Strategic Necessity Overrides Outrage: The Enduring, Yet Evolving, US-Saudi Alliance

3 hours ago7 min read3 comments

President Donald Trump’s Oval Office defense of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was less a foreign policy rupture and more a blunt confirmation of a long-standing geopolitical truth. The US-Saudi partnership, a cornerstone of Middle Eastern strategy for nearly 80 years, operates on a principle where strategic and economic imperatives consistently trump moral outrage.This dynamic, vividly on display as the two leaders announced a monumental $1 trillion Saudi investment pledge in the US and major new arms deals, underscores a relationship that remains 'too big to fail. ' However, beneath the surface of this restored alliance, fundamental shifts are underway.Saudi Arabia, while pursuing deeper defense integration with Washington and celebrating its new status as a 'major non-NATO ally,' is actively diversifying its geopolitical portfolio. The Kingdom is forging an increasingly close economic partnership with China and has signed a new defense pact with nuclear-armed Pakistan.Domestically, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has ushered in a wave of societal liberalization, yet the state remains an absolute monarchy where political dissent is brutally suppressed. The most significant test for the future of the US-Saudi relationship lies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.The Trump administration is aggressively pushing for Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords, but the Kingdom has demurred. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has insisted that any normalization with Israel must be contingent on a credible path to a two-state solution—a stance at direct odds with the current Israeli government's policies. This impasse, coupled with Saudi Arabia's broader hedging strategy, raises a pivotal question for the future: As the Kingdom ambitiously diversifies its economy and partnerships beyond oil, does it still view its alliance with an increasingly unpredictable United States as indispensable?.

#US-Saudi relations

#Donald Trump

#Mohammed bin Salman

#Khashoggi

#arms deals

#investment

#diplomacy

#featured