An American diplomat identifies files related to Iraq in Biden's agenda for the Gulf summit

by **Rocky** Tue 12 Jul 2022, 3:00 pm

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An American diplomat identifies files related to Iraq in Biden's agenda for the Gulf summit

by Rocky Tue 12 Jul 2022, 3:00 pm

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Baghdad - IQ

A former US diplomat expected that the file of attacks in Iraq by groups accusing Iran of supporting it would occupy a place on US President Joe Biden's agenda at the upcoming Jeddah summit.

Former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 2014 to 2017, Joseph Westphal, who is now a professor at the Lauder Institute at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, spoke about the visit in response to questions from POLITICO Magazine.

Here is the text of the interview as translated by IQ News:

What is the significance of this trip?

There is strategic importance not only to Saudi Arabia, but to the Gulf states, given shipping, energy issues, and the ongoing situation with Iran. So from a strategic security point of view, it is extremely important. Although we are no longer at war, as we were in Iraq or Afghanistan, there is still a great deal of trouble in the region, in Syria, Lebanon and elsewhere .

We need partners to support our climate change initiatives. We need partners to support us regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We need to take advantage of the trade opportunities, which have been overtaken by Chinese trade in the region. We need to get back to being the main business partner. These are all things the president can unlock and highlight .

Before we get to Saudi Arabia, which has the most coverage of the upcoming trip, how important is Biden's visit to Israel and the West Bank at this moment?

It is very important. I am very happy that he chose to go at this time because Israel is going through turmoil and a change of government leadership. They basically have an acting prime minister. So this is the time when whatever is being discussed with the Israelis regarding the Palestinian situation, in terms of the Middle East in general, perhaps helps encourage people in Israel to move to a more stable governmental situation, which is important to us .

Of course, the difficulty will be discussing the Palestinian case. I think a Palestinian state is almost impossible at the moment, but this is something the president believes in. The Saudis certainly believe that. So it is likely that there will be some discussion about whether this is possible in the near future .

Then he goes to Saudi Arabia. The hopes are, of course, that at some point we will see an exchange of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, which I think is coming.

There has been much focus on human rights concerns, and whether Biden's trip to Saudi Arabia could be seen as allowing the country to get away with it for its abuses. But do you think this trip is worth the backlash he will face on this front?

never. Presidents, including Biden, have met with Putin. Putin commits murders and atrocities in Ukraine. We still have to deal with Putin, as did Trump, and so did Obama. Erdogan has been responsible for a great deal of human rights violations in Turkey. As well as in China, and so on. We can continue to press on human rights issues and continue to advocate as much as possible and use our influence, but we cannot close the door to the important partnerships and strategic initiatives that we need to advance .

When you're in one of these meetings, how do you balance moving forward to redefine the relationship while also addressing such thorny issues?

Biden is a really experienced negotiator. My sense is that, like President Obama and other presidents, he's going to put on the table some of the tough issues that need to be put out there, whether it's human rights, or Yemen. But more importantly, what I think he will do is say, "We need to move on now. What has been said in the past, how we got here, is not good for either of our countries, and we need to reset our relationship." This does not mean that we will not be concerned about human rights, or concerned about other issues related to the values we embrace.

Now, Biden still doesn't have an ambassador there. It took Trump two years to appoint an ambassador after I left. This is not good. This is not how you relate to a country, because your ambassador is the most important way for you to advance your policies.

With what you know about Biden, do you think he would directly address Khashoggi's murder?

I think whatever he feels needs to be said, has been said. They heard it, and they reacted to it. After Biden's election, the kingdom responded in an unhappy way due to the comments Biden made. So this has already been said, you don't need to go back. What you have to do is just say, how do we go forward? How can we advance policy in the future that restores our trust in you, your trust in us, and our ability to work together on important issues? He won't make this trip unless he thinks it's important.

Many people think it will make them raise oil production to bring prices down. I don't see it. It is not that simple. And I think we need a restructured partnership. We also need a security agreement between the Gulf states. It is important to create a unified way of addressing the strategic challenges facing the region by a unified group of Gulf states, in everything from missile defense, to cybersecurity, to energy, and shipping .

Do you expect the president to address Saudi Arabia's alliance with Russia on oil?

I think he will remember her. I would be surprised if he didn't try to make the argument that Saudi Arabia is much better off promoting partnership with the United States than committing to a relationship with Russia. He could signal that the partnership with us is much longer, more stable, and more important to the Saudis than anything they can do with Russia.

You probably have a situation where if the discussion goes really well, MBS - he doesn't have a legislature to worry about - could certainly make some announcements at the end of the meeting, that they are going to increase oil supplies in an attempt to try to bring prices down. But that won't necessarily bring our prices down because it depends on all those things you hear about in the economy that have nothing to do with oil supplies, like refining capacity and trucks.

Another difficult topic for Biden on this trip is Iran, especially amid the stalled nuclear negotiations with Tehran after Trump withdrew from the deal with the country .

To be sure, the Saudis supported President Obama's efforts with Vice President Biden to secure a deal with Iran. What they didn't like was that the agreement, which would phase out some sanctions, did not bring about negotiations on how the Iranians would stop arming the Houthis in Yemen, stop arming Hezbollah in Lebanon, and stop attacking in Syria and Iraq.

All these other activities carried out by Iran were not part of those negotiations, but were only related to the nuclear file. They would like to see Biden push hard to get Iran to reduce its subversive activities in these other countries before the United States eases sanctions. I'm sure it will be brought up.

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