President Barack Obama shakes hands with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef during their meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, May 13, 2015. Obama said the US would continue increasing security cooperation to address threats in Libya and support a fledgling United Nations -brokered unity government, while urging all parties to abide by a nascent cease-fire in Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition is fighting on the side of an internationally recognized government against Shiite rebels and their allies. Obama said Gulf leaders attending the regional summit had agreed to step up the campaign against the Islamic State group, but did not lay out specifics. Bombing Yemen has not forced the Houthi opposition out of the capital Sanaa and, where the Houthis have retreated, there is chaos which al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has used to set up their own mini-state on the south coast of Yemen. The fact that this took place days after the two month anniversary of Salman’s ascension showed that he had already made up his mind about the Obama administration. Obama is now negotiating with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar to promote their cause. Yet the leaders appeared reluctant to invest until Iraq’s government overcomes a political crisis and better integrates Sunnis into the process.
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The senior cleric reiterated that there is no wonder of the Saudi regime’s behavior because it is taking orders from the United States, and said, “How come the Muslim countries have remained silent towards the Riyadh government’s wrongdoings”. But as Robert Naiman points out in the Huffington Post,”What’s revolutionary is that Murphy and Paul are formally challenging the taboo against publicly asking questions about the US military relationship to Saudi Arabia and inviting other Senators to join them”. When Turnball asked the American president whether Saudi is a friend of the US, Obama smiled and said “it’s complicated”. “Until that’s settled, I think it’s important for us to make sure that any additional stabilization dollars that we put in are going to be effectively spent”.
Obama praised Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi as a “good partner” for the US but and said he was concerned about his grip on power. Still, he said it was vital for Iraq’s health and stability to finalize a Cabinet so that Iraq can focus on profound long-term problems.
The Saudis in particular have bristled at Obama’s suggestion that they “share the neighborhood” with Iran, which they see as their foe. He says now isn’t the time for gridlock. We are not talking about the ISIS-ruled regions in Iraq in Syria; we are referring to the head of the U.N. Human Rights Council, an old USA friend and ally – the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
This bill comes as a group of Senators are poised to pass legislation that would limit the Saudi government’s immunity from lawsuits over the 9/11 attacks. Our nations committed to continuing to interdict illegal Iranian arms shipments in the region, impose costs on Iran for its ballistic missile program, and oppose Iran’s destabilizing actions in the region.
In its final statement, the OIC accused Iran of supporting terrorism and interfering in the affairs of regional states, including Syria and Yemen. After meetings with officials from six Gulf countries, he left with little to announce by way of new commitments the US had requested. Saudi Arabia, de facto head of the 13-member OPEC cartel, said it would not freeze its output levels unless Iran followed suit, which Iran has refused to do.
The president’s hopes of winding down USA military engagement in the Mideast have repeatedly been confounded by conflicts that have flared in countries struggling to contain extremists. And while it did not come from the government, as Ben Rhodes, the president’s deputy national security advisor noted this week, the Saudi government often paid “insufficient attention” to such funding, particularly prior to 2001.
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Although Iranian officials criticized the embassy attack and those involved in the attack have been brought to justice, Saudi Arabia has cut off all diplomatic relations with Iran.
