Saudi Arabia expressed confidence that there will be no change in its relationship with Washington, despite a pledge made by Democratic President-elect Joe Biden to re-evaluate ties with Riyadh due to its record in the field of human rights.
Riyadh’s relationship with the White House witnessed a great rapprochement during the era of Republican President Donald Trump, who established a personal relationship with its rulers and launched a campaign of maximum pressure against its opponent, Iran, according to France 24.
Adel Al-Jubeir
Observers believe that Saudi is concerned about the possibility that the Biden administration will withdraw from sanctions against Iran and return to the nuclear agreement with which Trump withdrew and limit arms sales.
However, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir said in an interview with “CNN” on Saturday that Riyadh deals with the president of the United States “as a friend, whether he is a Republican or a Democrat.”
“I think what people say in the campaign often does not translate once they take office. President Trump said things about Saudi Arabia during the campaign, yet we were the first country to visit when he took office,” he added.
The Saudi minister added that “We deal with the presidents as soon as they take office, and we have huge interests with the United States.”
Al-Jubeir, who was the Kingdom’s ambassador to the United States and minister of foreign affairs, noted: “I do not expect that there will be a major change with regard to US foreign policy.”
The Saudi official’s comments came while his country was organizing a hypothetical G20 summit.
During his election campaign, Trump attacked Saudi Arabia and said it “treats women as slaves and kills homosexuals,” but later he visited it at the start of his first foreign tour in 2017 and made it one of his closest allies in the world.
The businessman’s close relationship contrasts with the lukewarm relationship that linked the oil-rich kingdom with his predecessor, Barack Obama, whose conclusion of the deal with Iran over its nuclear file raised the concerns of Saudi Arabia and its neighbors.
Biden, who was Obama’s deputy during his two terms, promised to reassess the relationship with Riyadh.
Nevertheless, Al-Jubeir said in the interview, “The US is a global power with global interests,” referring to the two countries’ cooperation in several files including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the fight against the extremist ISIS, and global economic and energy security.
“These interests are huge for us and for the United States, and these interests are permanent and do not change. There are no two countries working together in the field of combating terrorism and extremism more than the United States and Saudi Arabia, and we will continue to do so,” he said.
“We are the key to the Islamic world,” Al-Jubeir said.
