Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said there was grave concern in the Gulf States about the prospects of Iran developing a nuclear bomb. More consumed with cracking down on revolutionary fervor on the streets of Iran since the Sept. 16 death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, Iran’s 83-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is more concerned about the Mullah regime’s survival. Khamenei has joined a military alliance with Russia supplying 70-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin with Kamikaze drones and ballistic missiles in Ukraine. Al Saud sees no prospects for a new version of the 2015 Iran Nuke Deal that tried to limit Iran’s uranium fuel production. Without U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] inspectors in Iran, the Mullah regime is free to enrich uranium to weapons grade capacity, about 80% enrichment.
No one knows how many pounds of weapons grade material Iran has stockpiled since former President Donald Trump decided May 18, 2018 to cancel former President Barack Obama’s 2015 Iranian Nuke Deal. Trump had no choice but to cancel the deal in 2018 after Iran, through its Yemen-based Houthi rebels, began attacking the Kingdom with drones and ballistic missiles. Iran was at war with Saudi Arabia starting to destroy its infrastructure, including the Riyadh International Airport and Aramco refining facilities.. IAEA express concern recently that Iran was boasting about its nuclear enrichment capacity now that there’s no check-and-balance on the government. “If Iran gets an operational nuclear weapon, all bets are off,” said Al Saud, interviewed by the World Policy Conference.in Abu Dhabi. Saudi Arabia recognizes that President Joe Biden, 80, is mired in Ukraine.
Consequences to world peace and global foreign policy are staggering because of the Ukraine War. Traditional allies like Saudi Arabia have been accused by Biden of sabotaging U.S. oil supplies, all because Saudi’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman refused to increase oil production to save the U.S. “We are in a very dangerous space in the region . . . you can expect that regional states will certainly look toward how they can ensure their own security,” Al Saud said, referring to the possibility of nuclear arms race on the Arabic Peninsula. Khamenei sees Iran’s survival as a nuclear-armed state with so much unrest currently happening in Iran. No one knows where the revolutionary fervor will go with street protesters arrested in droves for bucking the Mullah regime. Iran’s 61-year-old conservative cleric and President Ibrahim Raisi has vowed to crack down on street violence threatening the regime.
Biden finds himself in an unprecedented situation using Ukraine to fight a proxy war against the Russian Federation. Traditional alliances and those with U.S. adversaries have been strained to the breaking point. Biden plans to send 59-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken to China this week to mend fences with Beijing. Biden was quoted Sept. 23 has saying the U.S. would defend Taiwan in the event of a Mainland invasion. When Blinken met with the Chinese before, he deeply offended Chinese President Xi Jinping, accusing Beijing of genocide against Muslim Uyghurs in Western China. Some diplomacy is better than no diplomacy, as the current situation in Russia. Biden can’t expect to have pragmatic relations with China while he accuses Beijing of human rights abuses. Xi wants assurances from Washington that the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act is still in place, after Biden’s said he would defend Taiwan.
When it comes to Saudi Arabia, Biden plays a less conventional role as a traditional U.S. ally. Biden said in his 2020 campaign he would never meet with Bin Salman because of his alleged involvement in the Oct 2. 2018 murderer of Washington Post journal Jamal Khashoggi. Yet Biden met with Bin Salman July 15 to personally ask him to ramp up oil production before the 2022 Midterm elections. When it comes to Iran’s nuclear program, Al Saud thinks Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Arab States are left on their own to deal with a nuclear-armed Iran. “The signs right now are not very positive unfortunately,” Prince Faisal said, knowing the U.S. isn’t much help dealing with the Ukraine War. With Biden consumed by the Ukraine War, U.S. foreign policy has taken a elfish turn, only dealing with its proxy war against the Kremlin, when so many global issues take precedent.
Biden has showed the world that he can’t walk and chew gun at the same time, obsessed with the Ukraine War, leaving pressing global foreign policy challenges on the back burner. Saudi Arabia has good reason for concern about Iran’s very active nuclear enrichment program. Iran’s 83-year-old Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is in survival mode dealing with nationwide street protests over repressive practices. There’s far too little global pressure on Biden to end the Ukraine War, not just for Ukraine’s sake but for pressing global challenges, including dealing with Iran’s nuclear threat. “We hear from the Iranians that they have no interest in a nuclear weapons program, it would be very comforting to be able to believe that. We need more assurance on that level,” said Prince Faisal. With Biden mired in Ukraine, the U.S. doesn’t provide the global leadership needed to maintain world peace.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
