Trump’s outreach to Saudis at Iran’s cost

US President Donald Trump’s first visit abroad as President to Saudi Arabia has fuelled tension between the Saudis and Iran rather than seeking to ease West Asian rivalry. It has indeed heightened the internecine battle between the Teheran-led Shia block and the Riyadh-led Sunnis. With Trump announcing a $110 billion arms package for the Saudis, job creation for Americans may get a boost but the shift in policy marks the death knell of his predecessor Barack Obama’s outreach to the Iranians through the nuclear accord. By calling upon the Saudis to isolate a nation that has “fuelled the fires of sectarian conflict and terror” Trump has antagonized Iran unnecessarily. The irony is that the US President has chosen to build weapons for a regime that enabled 9/11 murderers and blocked FBI probe of 9/11 crimes. Americans can hardly forget that 15 of the 19 hijackers of 9/11 were of Saudi origin. Saudi Arabia is also hardly a role model for the way it treats its women.

The fallout of US outreach towards Saudi Arabia is not particularly comforting for India which had a year ago signed a deal with Iran for developing the Chabahar port as a virtual counterpoise to Pakistan’s Gwadar port which is going to be the fulcrum of the China-Pak deal for a road connecting the two countries for enhanced trade. With an unpredictable Trump at the helm in the US, India can only hope that he would see merit in containing Chinese designs for hegemony and near-monopoly of trade in the international waters in the region. That former Pakistan Army chief General Raheel Sharif was at the high table in Riyadh at a dinner hosted for Trump by the Saudi royal family is ominous indeed. So far, India has maintained a balance between the Saudis and Iran, benefiting from trade ties with both. But there cannot be a guarantee of that in the future. India will indeed need to reorient its diplomacy.