President Obama and Saudi Arabia’s King Salman are expected to grapple with disagreements on Syria, Yemen and the Iran nuclear agreement when they meet in the White House on Friday, even though the Obama administration is touting the visit as a way to reinforce relations with Riyadh.
King Salman’s trip to Washington was originally scheduled for May, when he was expected to participate in a Camp David summit with other Gulf Cooperation Council countries. But Riyadh canceled that trip amid concerns about the Iran deal.
Saudi Arabia has since voiced lukewarm public support for the nuclear pact with Tehran, but privately has been far more critical and has warned the agreement will bolster Iran’s standing in the region and enhance its ability to sponsor terrorism and other destabilizing activities.
President Obama this week garnered enough votes to push the deal through Congress, but would like to do more to address Saudi misgivings. At the same time, the White House wants to encourage its most powerful partner in the region to take a stronger position on Syria, and support groups that will help push leader Bashar Assad from power.
Saudi Arabia has backed Sunni hardline extremists in Syria, arguing, to the White House’s dismay, that this is the only way to counter the Shia militias Iran is supporting to help keep Assad in power.
Washington and Riyadh are also at odds over the best approach to oust Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen. Saudi Arabia began bombing in Yemen after the rebels, known as the Houthis, took control of the capital of Sana’a, but U.S. officials have expressed concern about the air strike campaign’s impact on civilians.
“I think we have a shared urgency on the need to address [regional conflicts], including Yemen and Syria,” deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters on a conference call Wednesday.
When it comes to the Iran deal and providing assurances to Riyadh, Rhodes said the U.S. has been looking to “support Saudi efforts to build their own capabilities and to build their own capacity to act in terms of promoting security in the region in a responsible way.”
“The U.S. and the Saudi Arabia relationship is really rooted in the shared strategic objectives we have, and we obviously don’t agree on every detail…but when we do disagree, we address these issues frankly and directly…and seek to bridge gaps and work on shared goals,” he said. “I expect that spirit of a very candid relationship between friends will come through in these meetings.”
Despite expressions of tepid support for the Iran deal, Saudi Arabia and other U.S. Gulf allies worry that Tehran will use the windfall in sanctions relief to sponsor more destabilizing activities in the region.
The Obama administration, Rhodes said, estimates that sanctions relief will provide Iran an estimated $56 billion in relief when completing its “key nuclear steps.”
In May, the administration told Gulf countries that the U.S. believes that Iran is in such a “significant economic hole” that it is likely to spend the money on improving their economy and the standard of living for their people.”
But Rhodes acknowledged that “there’s always a risk [that] Iran could spend funds on nefarious activities,” so the U.S. and its partners in the region need to be “doing everything we can to counter Iran’s destabilizing activity in the region.”
The U.S., Rhodes said, is helping the Gulf states develop capabilities that deal with the asymetric threat Iran poses, including maritime security, cybersecurity, ballistic missile defense, special forces capability and intelligence cooperation and sharing.
Reuters reported Wednesday that Saudi Arabia and the U.S. are close to a deal for two warships that Lockheed Martin Corp. is building for the U.S. Navy, and could reach agreement by the end of the year.
The price tag on such a sale would be more than $1 billion, according to Reuters, but Rhodes said he didn’t anticipate any announcements along those lines during Salman’s visit this week.
“Not to say that there are not discussions in different areas,” he said. “[But] we are not aiming to make any announcements along those lines.”
