In what may be the biggest diplomatic setback for the United States in decades, China has negotiated an agreement to restore diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Under this agreement, Iran and Saudi Arabia will reopen their embassies; they've also agreed not to interfere in each other’s internal affairs.
They will also discuss enhancing bilateral relations.
This means that at a time when Iran is racing to produce a nuclear weapon and recently began enriching uranium to near weapons-grade, Saudi Arabia has decided to side with China, leaving the U.S.-led Mideast alliance against Iran.
It also indicates that China has boosted itself to be seen as a major power and a more trustworthy partner for Mideast states than the U.S.
China will claim that this agreement is the beginning of the end of the U.S.-led global order. It's quite simply a disaster for U.S. global interests.
How did this happen?
The Iran-Saudi agreement is a direct result of how America’s influence and prestige have plummeted during the Biden administration.
It reflects the culmination of a string of U.S. foreign policy missteps, incoherent policies, and repeated signs that President Biden is not capable of serving as U.S. commander in chief.
These perceptions were driven by the disastrous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, an unserious U.S. foreign policy that prioritizes climate change as the top national security threat, and Biden policies undermining the effectiveness of the U.S. military with "wokeness" and COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
Worst of all has been President Biden’s naïve approach to China and Russia as competitors rather than as adversaries.
This situation also was caused by Biden’s exceedingly unwise Saudi policies.
This writer observed, in Newsmax, in January, about how America’s relations with Saudi Arabia sank to the lowest level in many years due to Biden’s gratuitous snubs of Saudi leaders and bad policies.
This decline commenced during the 2020 presidential campaign when Biden referred to Saudi Arabia as a pariah.
Biden officials acted on this criticism in the administration’s early days when they downgraded relations with the Saudis.
As a result, when President Biden tried to call Saudi leaders in March 2022 to ask them to raise oil production after U.S. gas prices surged, the Saudis refused to take Biden’s call.
Should anyone be surprised by this?
President Biden’s awkward visit to Saudi Arabia last summer improved U.S.-Saudi relations slightly, but the damage was done.
The Saudis ignored his request to increase oil production before the 2022 U.S. midterm election and instead lowered production.
Biden’s visit was followed by Chinese President Xi Jinping visiting Saudi Arabia last December. During this visit, the two countries signed a strategic partnership agreement and Xi attended two summits with leaders from Arab, Persian Gulf, and African countries.
And add to this, despite Saudi Arabia’s strong opposition to reviving the flawed July 14, 2015 nuclear deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action/JCPOA) with Iran, Biden officials have consistently ignored their concerns.
As a result, China seized a golden opportunity to outmaneuver the United States and build a relationship with a key U.S. ally — at America’s expense.
China will use this diplomatic achievement to counter U.S. criticism of its growing belligerence and threats to global stability.
It will be harder for the United States to convince other nations to ban TikTok or telecommunications equipment from Huawei if Beijing can make the world believe it is a peacemaker.
The significance of this agreement and whether it will last are uncertain.
Saudi-Iran talks had been underway for several years.
There may have been an agreement without China’s assistance.
The agreement probably will be shaky since Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran have long been foes and support religious minorities in the other country.
It's unknown whether this agreement means Iran will end its proxy war against Saudi Arabia by cutting off arms to the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The most significant outstanding question about the agreement is whether and how long Iran will honor it, given Tehran’s history, a record encompassing its making of agreements it would quickly violate.
Saudi leaders know this, which makes this writer think the agreement may be a ploy by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to pressure the United States to stop neglecting Saudi Arabia by showing there are other states the crown prince can do business with.
The Crown Prince also reportedly wants U.S. assistance for a domestic nuclear program in exchange for normalizing relations with Israel.
He might plan to use the agreement with Iran as leverage to get Washington to agree to this other deal.
Also limiting the damage from this agreement is the fact that the Saudis don’t trust China and still have a deep and longstanding security relationship with the United States.
Saudi Arabia has no intention of ending its defense relationship with the United States or its purchases of U.S. arms.
Although this writer is confident that a new Republican president in 2025 can mend the unnecessary damage done to the U.S.-Saudi relationship by Joe Biden, there will be much damage to undo; many hard feelings to soothe and reverse.
Fred Fleitz is a Newsmax TV Contributor and vice-chair of the America First Policy Institute Center for American Security. He previously served as National Security Council Chief of staff, CIA analyst, and as a member of the House Intelligence Committee staff. Read more reports from Fred Fleitz — Click Here Now.
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