Mohammad Amjad Hossain :
It seems to be interesting to note that there has been apparently change in politics in the Middle East of late which has been reflected that Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman of Saudi Arabia has met Ameer of Qatar on 5 January 2020 following the summit of Gulf Cooperation Council while the King of Saudi Arabia has invited Ameer of Qatar to pay a visit to Saudi Arabia with whom Iran and Turkey have maintained excellent relation. At the end of the GCC conference, they signed a declaration to ease a yearlong rift.
In 2017 Saudi Arabia along with UAE, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic relation with Qatar on the ground that Doha supported terrorism – a charge that Qatar denied. The charges being made by the King of Saudi Arabia on flimsy grounds being a member of Gulf cooperation council.
Another significant development is related to relations between Saudi Arabia and Islamic Republic of Iran while Iran is reported to have expressed welcome change of tone by Saudi Arabia on 29 April 2021 when Saudi Arabia is reported to have said they would work together to secure peace in the region. This is new development in the Middle East. Another development is that Iran and Saudi Arabia are having talks with the mediator of Iraq in Baghdad on 27 September, 2021 to end the severe crisis in Yemen’s seven-year war between the government which is recognised internationally and Saudi government, and Houthi rebels supported by Iran. The seven-year long war devastated the country while the people were starving. The United Nations blamed the Saudi Arabia led coalition for intractable political and human crisis in Yemen. Saudi Arabia and Iran severed diplomatic relations in 2016.
Having seen the severe crisis in Yemen President Joseph Biden has dispatched national security advisor Jake Sullivan to meet Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman to press the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to move toward a ceasefire in Yemen while the United States pulled its missile defense in Saudi Arabia. Jake Sullivan also discussed how to mitigate Yemen’s humanitarian crisis. President Joseph Biden has in fact taken tougher stand against Saudi Arabia criticizing its human right record while releasing US intelligence report blaming Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia for killing Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi in October of 2018 who was writing in the Washington Post while government of Saudi Arabia has been blamed on attacking United States on 9/11 in 2001 and she supported the hijackers.
Interesting to note that his predecessor Donald Trump had developed excellent relations with the regime of Saudi Arabia. That has been reflected that he undertook first foreign trip to Saudi Arabia in 2017 having assumed the presidency and developed a special relation with Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. President Donald Trump helped Israel to develop relations with UAE, Bahrain, apart from Morocco, Sudan while President Joseph Biden pledged to reassess US relations with oil rich Saudi Arabia with whom since 1930 the United States of America had developed bilateral relations. President Biden has criticized the record of human rights in Saudi Arabia while releasing a record of a US intelligence report blaming Crown Prince for killing Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi who was contributing to the Washington Post, apart from blaming Saudi Arabia for attacking United States on 9/11 in 2001 while supporting the hijackers.
President Biden is in favor to re-enter Obama era nuclear deal with Iran which President Donald Trump has withdrawn. We can await to see new development in the Middle East.
(Mohammad Amjad Hossain. Retired diplomat from Bangladesh and former President of Nova Toastmaster International Club of America, writes from Falls Church, Virginia).
