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Saudi Arabia is located in the middle east.

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Saudi Arabia is located in the middle east.

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The 9/11 attacks were acted out by Al-Qaeda who is from Saudi Arabia and the middle east.

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This is the resources for our 9/11 Unit.

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What happened on 9/11, who did, and what changed after it happened.

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The U.S. provides protection in return of oil from Saudi Arabia

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Brookings scholar Bruce Riedel on how America's oldest alliance in the Middle East is being tested and what to do about it.

The U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia has rested for decades on an unwritten agreement that benefited both sides: The United States provides security and access to global markets, while the Saudis ensure that the oil keeps flowing. But the rise of the United States as a leading energy producer and the increasing recklessness of Saudi Arabia under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are forcing a rethinking of that contract.

In the first episode of our new podcast, And Now the Hard Part, we tackle the question: How can Washington reset its relationship with Riyadh?

And Now the Hard Part is a partnership between Foreign Policy and the Brookings Institution. Each week, we look at one vexing problem in the world, trace its origin, and then offer a way forward. Our host is Foreign Policy 's editor in chief, Jonathan Tepperman, and the guests are some of the smartest analysts around-all scholars at the Brookings Institution.

"The track record of Mohammed bin Salman is one reckless bad decision after another," says Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow at Brookings and our guest this week. " [He] has engaged in a series of foreign adventures, most notably in Yemen, that have not enhanced Saudi security, not enhanced American security-rather, have probably detracted from both and created the worst humanitarian disaster in the world today in Yemen."

Hear the episode on this page or subscribe and download wherever you get your podcasts.

About And Now The Hard Part: The world is a particularly confusing and daunting place these days: Russian bots, North Korean nukes, trade wars and climate emergencies. To understand it better, Foreign Policy and the Brookings Institution are teaming up for an 8-part podcast series. On each episode, host Jonathan Tepperman and a guest from Brookings discuss one of the world's most vexing problems and trace its origins. And then, the hard part: Tepperman asks the guest to focus on plausible, actionable ways forward. Jonathan Tepperman, Foreign Policy's editor in chief, hosts the podcast. The guests are some of the smartest and most experienced analysts around-all scholars from the Brookings Institution, including former government and intelligence officials. See All Episodes

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Resetting the U.S. Relationship with Saudi Arabia

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The U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia has rested for decades on an unwritten agreement that benefited both sides: The United States provides security and access to global markets, while the Saudis ensure that the oil keeps flowing.

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The biggest reason for the alliance between the United States and Saudi Arabia is oil.

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Relationship Between US and Saudi Arabia Under Scrutiny

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Saudi Arabia and the United States troops

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Saudi Arabia and the United States troops

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Iran issues battlefield warning as US deploys troops In Saudi Arabia

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Trump has come to an agreement with their Salman

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Trump has come to an agreement with their Salman

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Trump has decided to send troops to Saudi Arabia.

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President Donald Trump. | Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Saudi Arabia is once again a radioactive political football in the U.S., and President Donald Trump can't resist grabbing it.

In a series of tweets this weekend, Trump indicated that Iran is behind the recent attack on Saudi oil facilities and that the United States will respond after hearing from the Saudi government "under what terms we would proceed."

Story Continued Below

His implication - that the royal family in Riyadh will dictate U.S. actions - prompted fury in Washington, where the Saudis have faced an increasingly hostile climate in recent years, especially in Congress and even among some of Trump's fellow Republicans.

"Trump awaits instructions from his Saudi masters. Having our country act as Saudi Arabia's bitch is not 'America First,'" Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, who is running for the Democratic nomination for president, tweeted on Sunday night.

Michigan Rep. Justin Amash, a Republican-turned-independent, noted that Congress is the body empowered to "commence war." "We don't take orders from foreign powers," he tweeted.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed Iran for the strike on the oil facilities, which belong to Saudi Aramco, the state-owned petroleum giant. "Iran has now launched an unprecedented attack on the world's energy supply," Pompeo tweeted within hours of Saturday's attack.

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Saudi officials were unwilling to go as far as Trump aides and directly blame Tehran for the damage to their facilities, although they did say they believe Iranian weapons were used. "Investigations are still ongoing to determine the source of the attack," the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

On Monday afternoon, Trump said that while it is "looking" like Iran is behind the attack, he noted that an investigation is ongoing. He also said he'd like to avoid war with Iran, but that the U.S. is ready for such a conflict.

Asked if he had pledged to protect the Saudis, Trump said: "No, I haven't promised the Saudis that. ... We have to sit down with the Saudis and work something out."

Such equivocation is unlikely to deflate the controversy around Riyadh's role in U.S. policy.

When Trump won the presidency in 2016, few countries were as happy as Saudi Arabia. The Saudis had felt neglected and dismissed under Trump's Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, who had prioritized reaching out to Iran, Saudi Arabia's regional archrival.

They hoped Trump would be friendlier to their interests, and in many ways, he has delivered: signing off on weapons deals, abandoning the Iran nuclear deal and downplaying the Saudi state's human rights abuses. Trump even made Saudi Arabia the first foreign country he visited as president, famously posing in front of a glowing orb with Saudi royals during a conference on fighting terrorism.

But Saudi Arabia's reputation in Washington is arguably worse now than it has been in nearly two decades - almost as politically charged as in the years immediately following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, when it was revealed that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis.

Under the de facto leadership of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Riyadh has pressed ahead with a four-year war against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, which has had catastrophic humanitarian consequences that have been sharply criticized on Capitol Hill. U.S. lawmakers backed a measure that would have ended U.S. support for that war, but Trump vetoed it.

The killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi national who had been living in the U.S., also fueled a massive backlash against Riyadh, which was blamed for the murder by the U.S. intelligence community. Many U.S. lawmakers in both parties hold Crown Prince Mohammed responsible for what happened to Khashoggi, who was assassinated inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Trump has effectively said he doesn't care if the crown prince played a role because Saudi Arabia is an important ally, one that buys a lot of U.S. weapons and is a key oil producer. "It could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event - maybe he did and maybe he didn't!" Trump said in one lengthy statement on the matter.

Analysts said the latest crisis exposed a major conundrum in Trump's foreign policy: The president and his aides have sent conflicting signals on what, if anything, the U.S. will do to defend its Arab allies in the Middle East when it comes to Iran.

That confusion was apparent earlier this year after a series of bomb attacks on oil tankers in the Persian Gulf that U.S. officials blamed on Iran. Then-national security adviser John Bolton, for example, warned Iran that "any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force."

Trump almost launched a military strike on Iran as the crisis over the oil tankers heated up and Iran downed a U.S. drone; he called it off at the last moment, saying it would have been a disproportionate response. The U.S. later downed an Iranian drone.

Left unclear has been what the Trump team considers a U.S. interest. And adding to the murkiness is Iran's use of proxy forces and territory outside its borders to launch attacks, while its Islamist leaders in Tehran deny any role.

Does Trump consider "actions by Iran against American allies to be actions that either demand or require some sort of U.S. response?" asked Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. If he does, "you not only enmesh the U.S. in endless wars, but you reward the countries in the region for risky behavior because the U.S. comes in and acts."

The Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for the weekend attacks on the oil facilities, but Pompeo has said there's no evidence the attack originated in Yemen, and The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. officials believe Iran itself might have been "the staging ground."

There's little love for Iran in Washington. The country has been a stalwart enemy of the United States since its Islamic Revolution 40 years ago. Iranian leaders have refused offers by Trump to hold talks, including possibly during the United Nations General Assembly session later this month.

"Neither is such a plan on our agenda nor will such a thing happen. This meeting will not be held," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi said, according to Iran's state-run Fars News.

Despite Iran's hostility, critics argue that Iran's latest alleged misbehavior is partly Trump's fault because he quit the Iran nuclear deal and reimposed economic sanctions on Tehran.

"The administration's response to a crisis it caused by walking away from the [Iran deal] has been completely incompetent," Ilan Goldenberg, who served in the Obama administration, tweeted. "It has failed to build an [international] coalition, failed to make a credible public case, given Iran more flexibility to hit our partners & increased the risk of war."

Under the crown prince, Saudi Arabia has repeatedly been accused of risky behavior. Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat trying to end the U.S. role in Yemen's civil war, has blasted Riyadh for its all-too-frequent bombings of civilian targets, for instance.

And there are concerns that the crown prince's use of power in Riyadh, including his imprisonment of human rights activists and sidelining of other royals, signals that he will serve as a brutal dictator once he officially takes over from his father, King Salman. Even Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican aligned with Trump, has called the crown prince a " wrecking ball." Given that Crown Prince Mohammed is in his 30s, he could rule for decades.

Saudi Arabia has spent billions of dollars on U.S. weaponry over the years, raising questions about why it would need U.S. support were it to retaliate against Iran.

"Direct engagement by U.S. military in response to Iran's attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure would be a grave mistake," Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) tweeted Monday. "The U.S. has continued arms sales so Saudi Arabia can defend itself. If S.A. responds against Iran attacks, the U.S. should be ready to support in a non-kinetic role."

In its statement Monday, the Saudi Foreign Ministry called for an internationally supported investigation into the oil facility attacks. The kingdom also insisted that it "has the capability and resolve to defend its land and people, and to forcefully respond to these aggressions."

A well-connected Saudi observer, however, said Riyadh's hands are tied in part because U.S. forces are in the region.

Several hundred U.S. troops have been deployed to Saudi Arabia as part of a bigger build-up of the U.S. presence in the Middle East after the oil tanker attacks.

"Saudi cannot attack Iran without a U.S. 'OK' since the U.S. forces will be exposed to reprisals," the observer said in a written message to POLITICO, adding that it's "similar to [the] risk Israelis would have taken if they attacked Iran without coordinating with [the] U.S.

"So ultimately, [the] cards are in the hand of the U.S. and Trump."

There's one person who would have taken exception to that in the past.

"Saudi Arabia should fight their own wars, which they won't, or pay us an absolute fortune to protect them and their great wealth-$ trillion!" Trump tweeted in 2014, a year before he announced he was running for president.

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Trump's deference to Saudi Arabia infuriates much of D.C.

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Saudi Arabia is once again a radioactive political football in the U.S., and President Donald Trump can't resist grabbing it. In a series of tweets this weekend, Trump indicated that Iran is behind the recent attack on Saudi oil facilities and that the United States will respond after hearing from the Saudi government "under what terms we would proceed."

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The alliance between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia

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The alliance between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia

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Introduction

The U.S.-Saudi Arabia alliance is built on decades of security cooperation and strong business ties dominated by U.S. interests in Saudi oil. The relationship has survived severe challenges, including the 1973 oil embargo and 9/11 attacks, in which fifteen of the nineteen passenger jet hijackers were Saudi citizens. Successive U.S. administrations have held that Saudi Arabia is a critical strategic partner in the region.

Relations between the two countries have grown especially warm under U.S. President Donald J. Trump and Saudi de facto leader Mohammed bin Salman, who was elevated to crown prince in mid-2017. Both have ramped up efforts to counter Iran, Saudi Arabia's main regional rival. However, recent actions under the crown prince's leadership, particularly the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, are posing new strains on the alliance, as many members of the U.S. Congress have called for punishing Riyadh and reassessing the relationship.

Seventy-Year Alliance

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, founded in 1932, traces its roots to an alliance between the Saud family and descendants of religious cleric Sheikh Mohammed Ibn Abdul Wahab, who espoused conservative Sunni jurisprudence. This pact has endured for centuries, influencing the country's domestic and foreign policy. Saudi authorities enforce religious restrictions, denying women rights they enjoy in Western democracies, and the government promotes its interpretation of sharia, or Islamic law, by funding religious schools around the world. Though it has recently lifted some restrictions, including a ban on women drivers, human rights groups say rights abuses persist.

The United States, first through its oil industry and then through government contacts, established a relationship with Saudi Arabia's founder, King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud, and his successors that evolved into a close alliance despite a stark clash in values. U.S. businesses have been involved in Saudi Arabia's oil industry since 1933, when the Standard Oil Company of California (now Chevron) won a sixty-year concession to explore eastern Saudi Arabia. It made its first oil discovery there in 1938.

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt recognized the oil discovery's strategic nature. His meeting with King Abdulaziz aboard the USS Quincy in Egypt in 1945 solidified the relationship. Saudi Arabia was officially neutral during World War II but allowed the Allies to use its airspace.

Oil

Standard Oil and the Texas Oil Company (Texaco) formed a partnership in Saudi Arabia in 1936 and together founded the Arabian American Oil Company, or Aramco, in 1944; the consortium later expanded to include what would later become Exxon and Mobil, helping Saudi Arabia become one of the world's largest oil exporters. (The United States is expected to soon overtake Saudi Arabia as the top exporter.) Saudi Arabia gradually bought out foreign shareholders, and since 1980, the company, now known as Saudi Aramco, has been wholly government owned. U.S. companies Chevron, Dow Chemical, and ExxonMobil still have refining and petrochemical ventures in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia's proven crude oil reserves are among the largest in the world. Its oil production averaged 10.7 million barrels a day, of which 7.43 million were exported, in September 2018, according to the Joint Organizations Data Initiative, which compiles information about global energy production. The scale of the kingdom's oil output and its founding role in the oil cartel Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) gives it great influence over energy markets; it has played a "central banker" role, adjusting its oil production levels to stabilize global oil prices. Protecting Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf producers has been a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy for decades.

OPEC has tried to steer oil markets since its formation in 1961, often directly affecting U.S. consumers. In 1973, Saudi Arabia embargoed sales of its oil to the United States in response to U.S. support for the Israeli military in its war against Arab states. In the 1980s, Saudi Arabia led OPEC in a price war to knock out competition from non-OPEC producers; the kingdom's ability to quickly boost production caused oil prices to plummet by more than 60 percent over a six-month period. The drop severely hurt the Soviet Union's oil revenues in the years before its collapse.

Balancing the oil market, or making the price "fair" [PDF] for both producers and consumers, is the stated goal of Riyadh's energy policy. However, more recently, the kingdom has manipulated oil prices to try to keep U.S. shale from becoming a viable competitor in the global market. In 2014, facing a glut in supply, Saudi Arabia and OPEC once again faced calls to curb production. But the Saudi oil minister at the time, Ali al-Naimi, persuaded OPEC to keep pumping to force high-cost producers-those exploiting shale, oil sands, and deep-sea resources-to reduce their output. Another Saudi aim was to undercut Iran's economy. The policy also put heightened pressure on Russia, which was sanctioned by the United States and others after its invasion of Crimea.

Oil prices subsequently fell to record lows of around $35 a barrel, and in a late 2016 reversal, Saudi Arabia, along with Russia, pressed OPEC members and other states to collectively curb their production. The six-month agreement, which went into effect in January 2017, was largely honored, defying some analysts' expectations. OPEC continued to reduce its collective output, and by fall 2018 prices topped $80 a barrel. However, following U.S. pressure, Saudi Arabia boosted its supply toward the end of the year amid declines in exports from Venezuela, suffering an economic crisis, and Iran, hit with new U.S. sanctions.

Defense and Counterterrorism

Providing security for the oil-rich Persian Gulf region has been a U.S. priority since World War II. U.S. companies were responsible for much of the oil produced in the region through the 1970s, and even as Saudi Arabia nationalized its oil industry at the end of that decade, it remained an important U.S. partner in the Cold War. The United States had for many years relied on Iran, under the rule of the shah, as part of a "twin pillar" policy of stabilizing the region. However, Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution upended that approach, leaving Saudi Arabia as the primary U.S. ally in the region for nearly four decades.

U.S.-Saudi military cooperation peaked in the first Gulf War, when in 1991 a U.S.-led coalition expelled Iraqi forces from Kuwait. More than half a million U.S. troops flooded into the region, with many based in Saudi Arabia. The presence of U.S. soldiers drew ire from Saudi conservatives and reinforced arguments that the elite was too accommodating to Western and non-Muslim interests.

The United States, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan supported the resistance to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, which lasted from 1979 to 1989. Cash and weapons flowed to the Afghan jihad, which attracted thousands of Sunni Muslims from the Middle East and North Africa. Saudi-born Osama bin Laden, son of the founder of the largest construction company in Saudi Arabia, joined the jihad in the 1980s and recruited Saudi fighters.

Bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia in 1990 with close links to the kingdom's intelligence officials. But his opposition to U.S. troops in the Middle East put him at odds with the royal family, which welcomed the U.S. forces that had driven Saddam Hussein's army out of Kuwait. Bin Laden, who would found al-Qaeda, left the country by early 1992 and was stripped of citizenship in 1994. From his new base in Afghanistan, where he was protected by the new Taliban leadership, bin Laden issued a fatwa against " Americans occupying the land of the two holy mosques " [PDF], referring to the Saudi cities of Mecca and Medina, in 1996.

Following the 9/11 attacks, a wave of popular anti-Saudi sentiment in the United States damaged relations between the countries. The George W. Bush administration's omission of twenty-eight pages from the 9/11 Commission Report fueled speculation that the U.S. government was covering up evidence that Saudi officials were complicit in the attacks. In 2016, the U.S. Congress passed legislation, over President Barack Obama's veto and Saudi threats of economic retaliation, that allows the families of 9/11 victims to sue the kingdom, an exception to the principle of sovereign immunity. Some legal scholars, however, say that plaintiffs would likely be unable to collect on any damages.

Saudi Arabia is the top destination for U.S. arms, with U.S. defense sales to the kingdom totaling close to $90 billion since 1950, according to the Pentagon. President Trump has encouraged such deals, arguing that they create half a million American jobs; several major defense firms have made lower projections. During his May 2017 trip to the kingdom, Trump signed a series of arms deals expected to total some $350 billion over a decade. According to the arms researcher SIPRI, Saudi Arabia's total arms imports were almost eighteen times greater [PDF] in 2017 than they were a decade earlier.

Divergence and Realignment

U.S.-Saudi Arabia relations have never been in complete harmony. Terrorism financing, the export of the kingdom's interpretation of Islam, human rights abuses, and the lack of democratic representation, as documented annually by the State Department, have all caused friction.

Although historically the United States and Saudi Arabia have had the common objectives of regional stability and containing Iran, they differed on core issues during the Obama administration. Saudi Arabia was dismayed by the lack of U.S. support for ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and that it was not included in initial negotiations on Iran's nuclear program, which were conducted in secret in Oman in 2013. Saudi leadership also chafed at President Obama's vision that the kingdom " share the neighborhood " with Iran.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been a source of contention from early days. During the second intifada (2000-2005), Riyadh proposed the Arab Peace Initiative, under which Arab countries would normalize relations with Israel in exchange for its withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories and a "just solution" for Palestinian refugees. Elements of the initiative were adopted by the Bush and Obama administrations. Many Arab states have criticized the Trump administration's more outright support of Israel. The Saudi royal court denounced the U.S. decision in 2018 to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. As Israeli-Gulf ties, particularly intelligence cooperation, have strengthened over mutual enmity toward Iran, the Trump administration hopes that Saudi Arabia will push the Palestinians to take part in a U.S.-led peace process.

War in Yemen

Mohammed bin Salman launched an intervention in Yemen's civil war in 2015, while he served as defense minister, marking a shift to a more aggressive Saudi posture in the region. The Obama administration provided Saudi Arabia with arms, intelligence, and aerial refueling to prosecute the campaign against Houthi rebels, who are supported by Iran, but there were underlying disagreements between U.S. and Saudi policymakers. The Obama administration, in its final months, suspended the sale of precision-guided missiles to Saudi Arabia amid high levels of civilian casualties. The Trump administration has reversed this.

Some U.S. lawmakers have sought to block portions of arms sales and U.S. participation in the war. Congress has required that the secretary of state certify the coalition is taking sufficient action to mitigate harm to civilians to continue military support. At a September 2018 CFR event, Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir defended the intervention, saying that "this is a war that was imposed on us." In November, as congressional pressure mounted, the Trump administration ended refueling operations for coalition aircraft, after consultation with Riyadh.

A New Heir to the Throne

King Salman appointed bin Salman as crown prince in June 2017. Bin Salman had already launched his Vision 2030 initiative, which aims to diversify the Saudi economy and boost foreign investment. The crown prince consolidated his control of military and security agencies, disbanding longstanding patronage networks and quashing potential rivals in the royal family. Within months of his appointment, the heir apparent drew widespread criticism for launching a regional blockade of Qatar and ordering a corruption crackdown in which dozens of Saudi elites were arrested and detained without formal charges. Amid the shake-up, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri was summoned to Riyadh, where he resigned under apparent pressure. (He withdrew the resignation upon his return to Lebanon.) Arrests of prominent religious and political activists, including dissidents, have prompted human rights advocates to criticize the country's leadership.

The Trump administration has generally embraced the new Saudi leadership. Saudi actions in 2018, however, brought to the fore questions about U.S. support for the kingdom. Late this year, U.S. lawmakers and human rights groups called on the administration to penalize Riyadh for the murder of Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia's Istanbul consulate. In November, the U.S. Treasury Department levied sanctions against seventeen Saudi officials suspected of being involved. However, President Trump dismissed proposals to cut arms sales to the kingdom and backed bin Salman's assertions that he did not order the killing, despite the reported conclusions of the CIA.

"The idea that the crown prince himself and Saudi Arabia were assets to the United States was entirely aspirational. In practice, the Saudis have been nothing but a headache," wrote CFR's Steven A. Cook in Foreign Policy.

Financial Ties

Saudi government officials and businessmen, both royals and commoners, have deep ties to the United States that extend beyond oil to finance and Silicon Valley. Saudi ministers, including those of finance and petroleum, have degrees from U.S. universities. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, an alumnus of Syracuse University, is the kingdom's most famous billionaire investor and owns stakes in Citigroup, Twitter, and Snap. (Bin Talal was detained for nearly three months as part of the 2017 crackdown.) Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund has stakes in major U.S. tech firms, including Uber and Tesla.

These ties, along with the large number of wealthy families in Saudi Arabia, have long made the country a source of investments in U.S. companies. Many international fundraising "road shows" for private equity firms and hedge funds make stops in Riyadh, or at least visits with the bankers in Dubai who manage money for Saudis. Moreover, many U.S. and European firms have opened or expanded operations in Saudi Arabia since it opened its stock market to foreign investors in 2015. Following Khashoggi's murder, however, dozens of top business leaders and media sponsors pulled out of a major investment conference for the kingdom. Analysts say that it will be difficult for Saudi Arabia to realize its vision for economic reform without such foreign investment.

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Relations between the two countries, long bound by common interests in oil and security, have strained over what some analysts see as a more assertive Saudi foreign policy.