Iran heaped yet more pressure on the Biden administration after the Houthi rebels’ attack on an oil facility in Saudi Arabia on Friday.
A Houthi spokesman took credit for the drone attack on Jeddah, which the spokesman accurately described as “deep” inside Saudi territory. Saudi officials say, and online video indicates, that two Aramco oil storage tanks were damaged in the strike. Evincing the Sunni kingdom’s concern about not appearing vulnerable, Saudi state media were reticent to admit an attack had taken place until it was undeniable. Earlier news reports proclaimed the successful interception of other Houthi drones launched from Yemen on Friday.
Iran is the key concern for all sides.
While the Yemen-based Houthis do not operate under Iran’s authority, their escalating campaign against the Sunni Arab monarchies proceeds with Tehran’s direct support and occasional direction. Indeed, absent Iran’s provision of drones and military expertise by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Houthis could not conduct these attacks.
The very public damage in Jeddah is a significant blow to the Biden administration. Coming just before this weekend’s Formula 1 Grand Prix in the city, the attack was clearly designed to fray Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s credibility as a leader. Put simply, it’s a very physical one-fingered salute to a man who cannot easily stand such insults. The attack will thus heap pressure on the Biden administration to adopt a tougher stance against Iran.
The scale of Iran’s challenge to America’s Sunni Arab allies is now undeniable. Jeddah is 400 miles from the Yemeni border, so even if Saudi air defense were able to shoot down numerous other Houthi drones, this attack testifies to Saudi Arabia’s deep vulnerability. This is not an easy pill for the crown prince to swallow, obsessed as he is with the presentation of confident authority and the marginalization of Iranian power.
Moreover, it takes place in a broader context of Iranian escalation. A Houthi drone attack in January targeted Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. But the Biden administration failed to respond to that attack by relisting the Houthis as a terrorist organization (Biden delisted the group shortly after taking office).
By failing to respond to these attacks, the Biden administration is pushing these allies into the hands of Russia and China. The reliability of an ally matters greatly in the Middle East, where international political influence is defined as much by the perception of power as by reality. Biden’s strategy, conciliation with Iran at seemingly any cost, has already led Crown Prince Mohammed to refuse to assist the president in reducing oil prices.
Fixating on human rights concerns such as the crown prince’s atrocious killing of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the Biden administration risks more than the U.S. alienation of long-standing allies. It risks diluting the positive political and economic reforms that the crown prince and others are taking. This is not to deny that there are real and legitimate concerns with how Saudi Arabia and the UAE are approaching China, for example. Or with how Qatar continues to tolerate funding for Salafi-Jihadists while ingratiating itself with Iran (Iranian military forces joined an arms parade in Qatar this week). But reforms such as those from the crown prince will be absolutely critical if these nations are to avoid becoming Islamic State 2.0s — this time armed with nuclear weapons.
Biden should reconsider whether his appeasement of Iran and its partners is as valuable to U.S. interests as he appears to believe.
