It is time for a reset of the U.S.-Saudi relationship. U.S. President Joe Biden has made his intentions very clear: The Trump administration’s so-called “free pass” to the erratic and uniquely powerful leadership of Saudi Arabia must end. For too long, the relationship has been run out of the public eye where its norms have been allowed to erode. As Biden said back in 2019 when asked how he would handle the relationship: “I would make it very clear we were not going to, in fact, sell more weapons to them. We were going to, in fact, make them pay the price and make them, in fact, the pariah that they are.” This week, the Biden administration seems to be making good on that promise by pausing and evaluating pending weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. At long last, in other words, there is some daylight and scrutiny coming to the bilateral relationship.
Somewhat ironically, normalization is also what Saudi Arabia has demanded. Saudi Arabia seeks a place on the world stage; as the 2020 host of the G-20, its core foreign-policy aspirations have been to seek legitimacy, normalcy, and respect as a destination for foreign investment and international tourism. And Biden should give Saudi Arabia exactly what it wants—to be treated like any other state with responsibilities and external scrutiny for its actions and policies at home and abroad. This will be difficult in the short term, especially as the window narrows for a reentry to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran. A successful Iran policy will require a functional and cooperative bilateral relationship with Saudi Arabia.
