Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal, a senior member of the royal family and former chief of intelligence for the kingdom, said on Monday that his country feels “let down” by the indifferent response from the Biden administration to attacks on civilian targets launched by the Iran-backed Houthi insurgents of Yemen.
“Saudis consider the relationship as being strategic, but (feel) as being let down at a time when we thought that America and Saudi Arabia should be together in facing what we would consider to be a joint, not just irritant, but danger to the stability and security of the area,” Prince Turki told Saudi Arabia’s Arab News in a video interview.
Turki blamed President Joe Biden for lifting pressure against the Houthis and giving them more space to act as Iran’s proxy to “not only destabilize Saudi Arabia, but also affect the security and stability of the international sea lanes.”
Saudi Arabia and its allies have condemned Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, most recently including a plot in March to attack oil tankers using suicide boats loaded with explosives.
“The fact that President Biden delisted the Houthis from the terrorist list has emboldened them and made them even more aggressive in their attacks on Saudi Arabia, as well as on the UAE,” the prince said.
Biden delisted the Houthis as terrorists soon after taking office. The Biden administration later professed to be “beyond fed up” and “horrified” by the terrorist attacks and military offensives unleashed by the Houthis after the designation was lifted.
Turki saw the delisting of the Houthis as part of Biden’s campaign against Saudi Arabia:
We’ve had our ups and downs over the years and perhaps, at this time, it’s one of the downs, particularly since the president of the U.S., in his election campaign, said that he will make Saudi Arabia a pariah.
And, of course, he went on to practice what he preached: First of all, by stopping the joint operations that America had with the Kingdom in meeting the challenge of the Houthi-led rebellion in Yemen against the Yemeni people.
And, second, among other similar actions, by not meeting with (Saudi Arabia’s crown prince) and publicly declaring that he would not meet with the crown prince, and, at one stage, withdrawing anti-aircraft missile batteries from the Kingdom when we were facing an increase in attacks by the Houthis using Iranian equipment like missiles and drones.
The prince said Saudi Arabia was “grateful” for occasional statements of support from the Biden administration, but said, “we need to see more in terms of the relationship between the two leaderships.”
Turki was cool toward pleas from the Biden administration for Saudi help with rising energy costs, a problem he said was of Biden’s own making.
“When you say that Saudi Arabia has not budged on the issue of the oil problems that America is facing, basically America itself is the reason for the state that they’re in because of their energy policy,” he said.
“President Biden made it a policy of the U.S. government to cut all links to what is called the oil and gas industry. He curtailed oil production and gas production in the U.S. (when) it had been, in the last few years, the biggest producer of these two energy sources,” he noted.
Turki seemed especially incensed by patronizing comments from former secretary of state and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who said last month she would use a “carrot-and-stick” approach mixing “punitive policies as well as incentives” to drive Saudi Arabia away from doing business with Russia.
“We are not schoolchildren to be treated with a carrot and stick. We are a sovereign country, and when we are dealt with fairly and squarely, we respond likewise,” Turki said on Monday.
“It is unfortunate that such statements are made by politicians wherever they may be,” he added. “I hope that the relationship of the Kingdom and the U.S. will not hinge around or be built upon that principle.”
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