This past Thursday Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, asked the world to put their collective foot down on any effort by Iran to continue to develop nuclear and ballistic missile programs. In a region rife with conflict, the king acknowledged Iran’s expansionism and proxy wars that they are conducting throughout the region. Saudi Arabia and Iran have been fighting in Yemen for over 5 years now. With this aggressive attitude Iran has been taking, the addition to nuclear capabilities provides a serious threat for Saudi Arabia and its allies.
Now with the writing on the wall of the end of the Trump era, Saudi Arabia may be losing one of the biggest anti-Iran voices in the political sphere. Even though many believed Trump exiting the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration opened the door for Iran to acquire a nuclear warhead. A Biden administration has pledged to return to the 2015 nuclear pact made with Iran as a way to ensure we don’t allow them to create nuclear missiles. The fear of allowing a country to even create nuclear energy is because it may be difficult to ensure if they are also developing a ballistics program to eventually coincide with it.
With the new and unexpected partnerships that Saudi Arabia has been developing, such as one with Israel, the pressure to ensure Iran does not obtain nuclear capabilities has never been higher. As Saudi Arabia deals with endless human rights issues and the very public killing of Jamal Khashoggi- I would not expect many world leaders to jump at the opportunity to stand by their side and take a “decisive stance” against anyone.
Al Jazeera. (2020, November 12). Saudi king urges world to take ‘decisive stance’ against Iran. Retrieved November 16, 2020, from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/11/12/saudi-king-urges-world-to-take-decisive-stance-against-iran
Chris,
An interesting blog post. As we will discuss in class, there can be little doubt that the election of Joe Biden has changed the terms of the game in the Middle East. I personally think that the US re-entering the JCPOA is about the best bet we have of preventing the Iranians from pursuing a nuclear weapon for the medium term future. All of the military options look pretty bad, and the Iranians have demonstrated that they will not be broken or cowed by economic sanctions. No nation would actively want to see a new nuclear arms race in the Middle East; but if one starts, it could drive Saudi Arabia and Israel into a “marriage of convenience.”
–Professor Wallerstein