Biden: US will not ‘walk away’ from Middle East Saudi Arabia
Joe Biden told a summit of Arab leaders yesterday that the US ‘‘will not walk away’’ from the Middle East to leave ‘‘a vacuum to be filled by China, Russia or Iran’’.
The US President set out his strategy to contain Iran’s nuclear ambitions, further isolate Moscow, integrate Israel in an alliance of countries against Tehran and boost oil supplies to reverse rising petrol prices caused by the war in Ukraine.
‘‘The United States is invested in building a positive future in the region, in partnership with all of you, and the United States is not going anywhere,’’ he said at the end of a four-day tour of the Middle East held amid fears over Iran’s support for militants in the region.
‘‘We will not walk away and leave a vacuum to be filled by China, Russia or Iran,’’ Biden said at the Gulf Co-operation Council summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The Biden administration appears to be using the growing ties between Russia and Iran – Saudi Arabia’s regional nemesis – to encourage Gulf countries to get behind the US in an alliance against Moscow and forge a closer relationship with US ally Israel.
Hours before the summit, the White House released satellite imagery that indicates Russian officials have twice recently visited Iran to see weapons-capable drones it is looking to acquire for use in its war in Ukraine.
A senior Biden administration official said Moscow’s efforts to acquire drones from Tehran show that Russia is ‘‘effectively making a bet on Iran’’.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that the administration has ‘‘information that the Iranian government is preparing to provide Russia with several hundred UAVs’’ – which are unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones.