Maha El Dhana, Ghaida Ghantous & Samia Nakhoul

DUBAI (Reuters – The United Arab Emirates single-handedly slashed 13% from rocketing oil prices this week. This was a signal to Washington that it is paying more attention to long-standing allies.

Saudi Arabia and UAE are OPEC’s heavyweights, both of whom have grudges with Washington. They refuse to listen to U.S. pleas for them to reduce the world’s rising crude oil prices, which pose a threat to global recession, following Russia’s invasion.

After comments made by Washington’s ambassador from UAE, who claimed that his country was in favor of more oil, Wednesday’s dramatic oil price drop, the most significant one-day fall in two years, occurred on Wednesday.

After the UAE energy minister said that the UAE had contradicted him, prices rebounded. He stated that the Gulf state held to the output pact it agreed with OPEC+. OPEC+ is an Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, along with its allies and Russia.

Abdulaziz Sager of Gulf Research Center stated, “This was deliberate.” He added that Washington received the message “You need us, you need us,” so let’s work out the problems between us.

Washington should have coordinated with Gulf producers during the buildup of Russia’s plan to invade Ukraine, rather than reacting to the crisis by turning to them after it had occurred, he said.

“Gulf countries have for many years established a positive relationship with Russia. They can’t just change things,” he stated.

Although the United States is keen for the Gulf countries to join the West on the Ukraine crisis, Washington has damaged its relationship with Riyadh & Abu Dhabi by failing to address their concerns over regional rival Iran. Washington also ended its support of the Yemen war and placed conditions on U.S. arms sales to the Gulf.

REBUILDING TUST

The refusal of President Joe Biden to directly deal with the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman as de facto ruler of the kingdom in the wake of Jamal Khashoggi’s 2018 killing was a source of anger for the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The U.S. intelligence reported implicated the Prince, but he denies any involvement.

According to a Gulf source, “There are many conflicts between the U.S.A and its Gulf Allies” and that trust must be restored. This has nothing whatsoever to do with the Ukraine war.

According to a source, Washington should have taken action before Russia invaded. The U.S. government knew that it was headed towards crisis. They had to have established relations with allies and coordinated their efforts in advance. Not just expecting them to follow through and manage oil prices.

Since the Arab uprisings of 2011, mistrust has grown. Gulf rulers were stunned at the way President Barack Obama’s administration abandoned Hosni Murak, the former Egyptian President. This was after a 30 year alliance. They also ignored the concerns of Gulf rulers about the Muslim Brotherhood’s rise.

Sunni Muslim Gulf countries felt also blindsided by Washington’s 2015 nuclear agreement with Shi’ite Iran. This deal did not address Gulf concerns over Tehran’s missile program and regional proxies.

Saudi Arabia was particularly hurt by the U.S. response to drone and missile attacks against its kingdom in 2019. Washington and Riyadh both blamed Tehran. Iran has denied any role in the incident.

When the Houthis attacked Abu Dhabi in January of this year, the UAE felt just as frustrated. Washington is yet to act on the UAE’s request to have Biden reinstate terrorist status for Iranian-backed organization.

PHONECALL SNUB

The Gulf source said that Biden did not call quickly following the Houthis attack, according to another source.

Three weeks later, Biden called MbZ. MbZ declined to take the call. You wait three weeks before calling your ally if there is a terrorist attack on him. The Gulf source stated.

Emily Horne of the White House National Security Council stated Wednesday that “no issues” were raised about having a conversation with Biden and promised to speak soon with him. According to a spokesperson for the UAE foreign ministry, a conference call is being planned.

Biden spoke last month with Saudi King Salman, while MbS (the crown prince) was also present. According to sources, Biden asked MbS for a call with the crown prince. However, the call was only scheduled with the King.

The White House, Saudi government and Reuters did not respond immediately to Reuters’ requests for comment. On Monday, the White House stated that there was no plan for Biden at this time to contact MbS.

While the United States, Russia, and other global powers were in negotiations to revive the Iran nuclear agreement with Iran’s nukes, the Ukraine crisis has emerged. Moscow could have obstructed these efforts by demanding that Washington give guarantees to Iran that Western sanctions against Russia will not impact its business.

Since the beginning, Gulf states felt that they were ignored in talks on Iran. Now they fear that Iran will be empowered by its regional allies.

The United States is still expected to support the Gulf States over its ties with Russia, on which their security depends, because of their focus on business and energy.

According to Neil Quilliam (a Chatham House associate fellow), “Ultimately the U.S. has clout. But the Saudi and Emirati resistance threshold are particularly high right now, given their deep dissatisfaction about U.S. policies towards them.”