On the President's Desk: Saudi Arabia
Modern US–Saudi diplomatic relations began in 1945, and have continued with their share of controversy. In the past, the United States has been willing to overlook many of that kingdom's more controversial aspects as long as it remained an ally in the middle east and as long as it kept the oil flowing and supported U.S. national security policies. It has not always been easy to be an ally to the Arabs.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Saudis enjoyed excellent relations with the British, who defended Saudi Arabia from the Turks. King Abdulaziz Al Saud Ibn Saud brought about the unification of his country and on September 28, 1928, he sought international recognition for Saudi Arabia. Britain was the first country to recognize Saudi Arabia as an independent state. Saud also hoped to be recognized by the US. Initially, he was unsuccessful, but after Saud had obtained recognition from many nations, Washington followed suit. In May 1931 the U.S. officially recognized Saudi Arabia by extending full diplomatic recognition. At the same time Ibn Saud granted a concession to the U.S. company, Standard Oil of California, allowing them to explore for oil in the country's Eastern Province, al-Hasa. The company gave the Saudi government £35,000 and also paid assorted rental fees and royalty payments. In November 1931, a treaty was signed by both nations which included favored nation status, but the US did not yet have a diplomatic mission in Saudi Arabia. Saudi affairs were handled by the U.S. delegation in Cairo, Egypt
Al Saud permitted American exploration for oil because he hoped that his land could have valuable materials that would support the country's economy. In May 1933 the California Arabian Standard Oil Company (CASOC), later called the Arab American Company (ARAMCO), had started exploration in the country. Imported oil was not very important for the U.S. at the time, buy Washington still had a keen interest in Saudi oil and this strengthened relations between the two nations. CASOC Struck oil near Dhahran, but production over the next several years remained low. In 1950, Saudi Arabia and CASOC, now called ARAMCO, agreed to a 50–50 profit-sharing arrangement, and a series of agreements between 1973 and 1980 resulted in the Saudis' regaining full control of the company. In 1988, Fahd of Saudi Arabia issued a royal decree establishing the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, known as Saudi Aramco, to replace Aramco.
As World War II began, US-Saudi relations became of lesser importance, leaving Saudi Arabia vulnerable to attack. Italy bombed a CASOC oil installation in Dhahran crippling Saudi Arabia's oil production. However, as World War II progressed, the United States began to realize that Saudi oil was of strategic importance. On February 16, 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared that "the defense of Saudi Arabia is vital to the defense of the United States". He extended the Lend-Lease program to the kingdom. Later that year, the president approved the creation of the state-owned Petroleum Reserves Corporation, with the intent that it purchase all the stock of CASOC and thus gain control of Saudi oil reserves in the region. However, the plan was met with opposition and ultimately failed. On February 14, 1945, Roosevelt met with King Ibn Saud aboard the USS Quincy, discussing topics such as the countries' security and the creation of a Jewish country in the Mandate of Palestine. The king approved the US's request to allow the U.S. air force to fly over and construct airfields in Saudi Arabia. The oil installations were rebuilt and protected by the U.S. and the U.S. gained a direct route for military aircraft heading to Iran and the Soviet Union. The first American consulate was opened in Dhahran in 1944.
In 1945, after World War II, Saudi citizens began to feel uncomfortable about U.S. forces still operating in Dhahran, while the Saudi government saw the U.S. forces as a major component of the Saudi military defense. U.S. forces in Dhahran were increased when the region was threatened and reduced when the danger declined. At the start of the Cold War, the U.S. was concerned about Soviet communism influencing the region, and devised a strategy of 'containing' the spread of communism within Arabian Peninsula, putting Saudi security at the top of Washington's list of priorities. President Harry S. Truman's administration promised Bin Saud that he would protect Saudi Arabia from Soviet influence. In 1951, the U.S. established a permanent U.S. Military Training Mission in the kingdom and agreed to provide training support in the use of weapons and other security-related services to the Saudi armed forces. The US Army Corps of Engineers assisted in the construction of military installations in the kingdom. This agreement led to a longstanding security relationship.
In 1953, the King died and was succeeded by his son, Crown Prince Saud, known for his reputation as a spendthrift. Under King Saud, the kingdom's treasury diminished rapidly and he was forced to turn over direct control of government affairs to his half-brother Faisal from 1958 to 1961. In 1964, the royal family and religious leadership forced Saud to abdicate in favor of Faisal. In October 1955, Saud had joined in a pro-Soviet strategy with Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser. He dismissed the U.S. forces and replaced them by Egyptian forces. But in 1956, during the Suez crisis, Saud began to cooperate with the U.S. again after President Eisenhower prevented the Israeli, British, and French plan to seize the Suez canal. A grateful King Saud resumed cooperation with the U.S. and Egyptian power declined. In 1957, Saud decided to renew the U.S. base in Dhahran.
In 1958, Saud changed course once again and had once again joined the Egyptian-Syrian alliance, which was pro-Soviet. This took the US-Saudi relationship to a low point and in 1961 the King changed his mind about renewing the U.S. base. But when in 1962, Egypt attacked Saudi Arabia from bases in Yemen, Saud once again sought U.S. support. President John F. Kennedy immediately responded to Saud's request by sending U.S. warplanes in July 1963 to the war zone to stop the attack which was putting U.S. interests at risk. At the end of the war, shortly before Prince Faisal became king, the relationship was rebuilt.
The United Kingdom withdrew from the Gulf region in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Nixon administration sought to rely on local allies to "police" American interests under the "Nixon Doctrine". Saudi Arabia and Iran became the "twin pillars" of regional security. Whereas in 1970 the U.S. provided less than $16 million to Saudi Arabia in military aid, that number jumped to $312 million by 1972. As part of the "twin pillars" strategy, the U.S. also attempted to improve relations between the Saudis and the Iranians.
In November 1964, Faisal replaced Saud as king. He continued the cooperation with the US until October 20, 1973, when Faisal decided to contribute in an oil embargo against the US and Europe in favor of the Arab position during the Yom Kippur War. This led to an energy crisis in the US. Faisal said, at a press conference, "America's complete Israel support against the Arabs makes it extremely difficult for us to continue to supply the United States with oil, or even remain friends with the United States." The US struggled to rebuild the relationship, not only for oil, but in order for the Saudis to continue to purchase American military technology. The embargo was lifted in March 1974 after the U.S. pressured Israel into negotiating with Syria over the Golan Heights. Three months later, Washington and Riyadh signed a wide-ranging agreement on expanded economic and military cooperation. In the 1975 fiscal year, the two countries signed $2 billion worth of military contracts, including an agreement to send Saudi Arabia 60 fighter jets. The Saudis also agreed to keep OPEC price increases lower than Iraq and Iran initially wanted.
The Saudis' increase of oil production to stabilize the oil price and the support of anti-communism led to closer relations with the U.S. The U.S. built and administrated numerous military academies, navy ports, and Air Force military airbases in the country. The Saudis purchased a great deal of weapons that varied from F-15 war planes to M1 Abrams main battle tanks that later proved useful during the Gulf War. The U.S. pursued a policy of building up and training the Saudi military as a counterweight to Shiite extremism and revolution following the revolution in Iran.
Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 led to the Gulf War, during which the security relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia was greatly strengthened. Concurrently with the US invasion, King Fahd declared war against Iraq. With King Fahd's approval, the first President Bush deployed 543,000 ground troops to protect Saudi Arabia from a possible Iraqi invasion. This operation was called Desert Shield. Furthermore, the U.S. sent additional troops in operation Desert Storm with nearly 100,000 Saudi troops sent by Fahad to form a US-Saudi army alliance, along with troops from other allied countries, to attack Iraqi troops in Kuwait and to stop further invasion. Iraqi troops were defeated within four days, causing the Iraqis to retreat. Since the Gulf War, the U.S. had a continued presence of 5,000 troops stationed in Saudi Arabia – a figure that rose to 10,000 during the 2003 conflict in Iraq. Operation Southern Watch enforced the no-fly zones over southern Iraq set up after 1991, and the country's oil exports through the shipping lanes of the Persian Gulf are protected by the US Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain.
On September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. and in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania by four hijacked airplanes killed 2,977 victims and cost an estimated $150 billion in property and infrastructure damage and economic impact. 15 of the 19 hijackers in the attacks came from Saudi Arabia, as did the leader of the hijackers' organization, Osama bin Laden. This led to a reassessment of the "oil-for-security" alliance with Saudi Arabia. A 2002 Council on Foreign Relations Terrorist Financing Task Force report found that: “For years, individuals and charities based in Saudi Arabia have been the most important source of funds for al-Qaeda. And for years, Saudi officials have turned a blind eye to this problem.” The Saudi government issued a statement on the day of the attacks calling them "regrettable and inhuman." Saudi recognition to the Taliban ended. The Bush administration continued to publicly praise Saudi support for the war on terrorism, while privately expressing frustration with Saudi inaction. Although 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals, the Saudis were not cooperating with Americans wanting to look at background files of the hijackers or interview the hijackers' families. There was strong support for Bin Laden's cause, though by 2006 the Saudi population become considerably more pro-American after Al-Qaeda linked groups staged attacks inside Saudi Arabia.
The Saudis decided to cooperate with the U.S. on the war on terror. King Abdullah gave the opening address of the Counter-terrorism International Conference (CTIC) held in Riyadh in 2005, and told his audience, "Terrorism does not belong to any culture, or religion, or political system", Al-Qaeda began launching multiple attacks targeting Saudi government buildings and U.S. compounds in Saudi Arabia. These attacks lessened support for Al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi government arrested a large number of Saudi terrorists and terrorists from other countries (some of them American) that had connections with al-Qaeda.
In 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton claimed that "donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide". She claimed that many charities serve as fronts for money laundering and terrorist financing operations. While many Saudis contribute to those charities in good faith believing their money goes toward good causes, it is alleged that others know full well the terrorist purposes to which their money will be applied. In September 2016, the Congress passed the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act that would allow relatives of victims of the September 11 attacks to sue Saudi Arabia for its government's alleged role in the attacks.
A bill approving a 2017 arms sale to Saudi Arabia was opposed by various lawmakers, including GOP Senators Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Todd Young and Dean Heller along with most Democrat Senator. They opposed the sale on the grounds of human rights violations by Saudi Arabia in the Yemeni Civil War. Last month (October 2018), allegations were raised about the Saudi government's complicity in the murder of a Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged Saudi Arabia to "support a thorough investigation" regarding the disappearance and "to be transparent about the results." President Trump said, "We cannot let this happen to reporters, to anybody. We're demanding everything. We want to see what's going on there." Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said "there would be hell to pay" if Saudi is involved in the murder of Khashoggi. He added, "If they're this brazen it shows contempt. Contempt for everything we stand for, contempt for the relationship."
In August 2016, Donald Trump Jr. met with an envoy representing Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and de facto ruler Mohammad bin Salman, and Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. The envoy offered help to the Trump presidential campaign. The meeting included Lebanese-American lobbyist George Nader, Joel Zamel, an Israeli specialist in social media manipulation, and Blackwater founder Erik Prince. This information was uncovered in the course of Robert Muller's investigation as Independent Counsel.
The nature of ongoing Saudi-US relations remains a complex issue. In January 2017, U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis "reaffirmed the importance of the U.S.-Saudi Arabia strategic relationship". Mattis has voiced support for a Saudi Arabian-led military campaign against Yemen's Shiite rebels and he asked the President Trump to remove restrictions on U.S. military support for Saudi Arabia.
Presidents have visited Saudi Arabia in the past, showing deference to the importance of this relationship. President George W. Bush made two visits to Saudi Arabia in 2008, the first time a U.S. president visited a foreign country twice in less than four months. King Abdullah made three visits to the US during the second Bush Presidency, in 2002, 2005 and 2008. Bush discussed the world economic crisis and how the financial position of both nations could be improved by the U.S.–Saudi relationship.
President Donald Trump authorized an arms deal with the Saudis that is worth nearly $110 billion. The agreement was signed on the May 20, 2017, and it includes training and close co-operation with the Saudi Arabian military. The deal was followed by an all-time high for US defense stocks. The Saudis also signed billions of dollars worth of business agreements with U.S. arms producers and energy companies, including Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, General Electric, Exxon Mobil, Halliburton, Honeywell, McDermott International, Jacobs Engineering Group, Rowan Companies, National Oilwell Varco, Nabors Industries, Weatherford International, Schlumberger and Dow Chemical. The US-Saudi relationship has a significant financial impact on the US economy.
While there is much to be critical of the Saudis in terms of their record on human rights and other aspects, Presidents from both political parties have understood the importance of maintaining the relationship for economic and national security reasons. On the former front, a break in the relationship would have devastating consequences for the US economy. On the latter, it is important to maintain the relationship in order to have a presence in the region where the biggest security threat to the United States in this century has come from, and where more future security threats are likely to arise.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Saudis enjoyed excellent relations with the British, who defended Saudi Arabia from the Turks. King Abdulaziz Al Saud Ibn Saud brought about the unification of his country and on September 28, 1928, he sought international recognition for Saudi Arabia. Britain was the first country to recognize Saudi Arabia as an independent state. Saud also hoped to be recognized by the US. Initially, he was unsuccessful, but after Saud had obtained recognition from many nations, Washington followed suit. In May 1931 the U.S. officially recognized Saudi Arabia by extending full diplomatic recognition. At the same time Ibn Saud granted a concession to the U.S. company, Standard Oil of California, allowing them to explore for oil in the country's Eastern Province, al-Hasa. The company gave the Saudi government £35,000 and also paid assorted rental fees and royalty payments. In November 1931, a treaty was signed by both nations which included favored nation status, but the US did not yet have a diplomatic mission in Saudi Arabia. Saudi affairs were handled by the U.S. delegation in Cairo, Egypt
Al Saud permitted American exploration for oil because he hoped that his land could have valuable materials that would support the country's economy. In May 1933 the California Arabian Standard Oil Company (CASOC), later called the Arab American Company (ARAMCO), had started exploration in the country. Imported oil was not very important for the U.S. at the time, buy Washington still had a keen interest in Saudi oil and this strengthened relations between the two nations. CASOC Struck oil near Dhahran, but production over the next several years remained low. In 1950, Saudi Arabia and CASOC, now called ARAMCO, agreed to a 50–50 profit-sharing arrangement, and a series of agreements between 1973 and 1980 resulted in the Saudis' regaining full control of the company. In 1988, Fahd of Saudi Arabia issued a royal decree establishing the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, known as Saudi Aramco, to replace Aramco.
As World War II began, US-Saudi relations became of lesser importance, leaving Saudi Arabia vulnerable to attack. Italy bombed a CASOC oil installation in Dhahran crippling Saudi Arabia's oil production. However, as World War II progressed, the United States began to realize that Saudi oil was of strategic importance. On February 16, 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared that "the defense of Saudi Arabia is vital to the defense of the United States". He extended the Lend-Lease program to the kingdom. Later that year, the president approved the creation of the state-owned Petroleum Reserves Corporation, with the intent that it purchase all the stock of CASOC and thus gain control of Saudi oil reserves in the region. However, the plan was met with opposition and ultimately failed. On February 14, 1945, Roosevelt met with King Ibn Saud aboard the USS Quincy, discussing topics such as the countries' security and the creation of a Jewish country in the Mandate of Palestine. The king approved the US's request to allow the U.S. air force to fly over and construct airfields in Saudi Arabia. The oil installations were rebuilt and protected by the U.S. and the U.S. gained a direct route for military aircraft heading to Iran and the Soviet Union. The first American consulate was opened in Dhahran in 1944.
In 1945, after World War II, Saudi citizens began to feel uncomfortable about U.S. forces still operating in Dhahran, while the Saudi government saw the U.S. forces as a major component of the Saudi military defense. U.S. forces in Dhahran were increased when the region was threatened and reduced when the danger declined. At the start of the Cold War, the U.S. was concerned about Soviet communism influencing the region, and devised a strategy of 'containing' the spread of communism within Arabian Peninsula, putting Saudi security at the top of Washington's list of priorities. President Harry S. Truman's administration promised Bin Saud that he would protect Saudi Arabia from Soviet influence. In 1951, the U.S. established a permanent U.S. Military Training Mission in the kingdom and agreed to provide training support in the use of weapons and other security-related services to the Saudi armed forces. The US Army Corps of Engineers assisted in the construction of military installations in the kingdom. This agreement led to a longstanding security relationship.
In 1953, the King died and was succeeded by his son, Crown Prince Saud, known for his reputation as a spendthrift. Under King Saud, the kingdom's treasury diminished rapidly and he was forced to turn over direct control of government affairs to his half-brother Faisal from 1958 to 1961. In 1964, the royal family and religious leadership forced Saud to abdicate in favor of Faisal. In October 1955, Saud had joined in a pro-Soviet strategy with Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser. He dismissed the U.S. forces and replaced them by Egyptian forces. But in 1956, during the Suez crisis, Saud began to cooperate with the U.S. again after President Eisenhower prevented the Israeli, British, and French plan to seize the Suez canal. A grateful King Saud resumed cooperation with the U.S. and Egyptian power declined. In 1957, Saud decided to renew the U.S. base in Dhahran.
In 1958, Saud changed course once again and had once again joined the Egyptian-Syrian alliance, which was pro-Soviet. This took the US-Saudi relationship to a low point and in 1961 the King changed his mind about renewing the U.S. base. But when in 1962, Egypt attacked Saudi Arabia from bases in Yemen, Saud once again sought U.S. support. President John F. Kennedy immediately responded to Saud's request by sending U.S. warplanes in July 1963 to the war zone to stop the attack which was putting U.S. interests at risk. At the end of the war, shortly before Prince Faisal became king, the relationship was rebuilt.
The United Kingdom withdrew from the Gulf region in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Nixon administration sought to rely on local allies to "police" American interests under the "Nixon Doctrine". Saudi Arabia and Iran became the "twin pillars" of regional security. Whereas in 1970 the U.S. provided less than $16 million to Saudi Arabia in military aid, that number jumped to $312 million by 1972. As part of the "twin pillars" strategy, the U.S. also attempted to improve relations between the Saudis and the Iranians.
In November 1964, Faisal replaced Saud as king. He continued the cooperation with the US until October 20, 1973, when Faisal decided to contribute in an oil embargo against the US and Europe in favor of the Arab position during the Yom Kippur War. This led to an energy crisis in the US. Faisal said, at a press conference, "America's complete Israel support against the Arabs makes it extremely difficult for us to continue to supply the United States with oil, or even remain friends with the United States." The US struggled to rebuild the relationship, not only for oil, but in order for the Saudis to continue to purchase American military technology. The embargo was lifted in March 1974 after the U.S. pressured Israel into negotiating with Syria over the Golan Heights. Three months later, Washington and Riyadh signed a wide-ranging agreement on expanded economic and military cooperation. In the 1975 fiscal year, the two countries signed $2 billion worth of military contracts, including an agreement to send Saudi Arabia 60 fighter jets. The Saudis also agreed to keep OPEC price increases lower than Iraq and Iran initially wanted.
The Saudis' increase of oil production to stabilize the oil price and the support of anti-communism led to closer relations with the U.S. The U.S. built and administrated numerous military academies, navy ports, and Air Force military airbases in the country. The Saudis purchased a great deal of weapons that varied from F-15 war planes to M1 Abrams main battle tanks that later proved useful during the Gulf War. The U.S. pursued a policy of building up and training the Saudi military as a counterweight to Shiite extremism and revolution following the revolution in Iran.
Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 led to the Gulf War, during which the security relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia was greatly strengthened. Concurrently with the US invasion, King Fahd declared war against Iraq. With King Fahd's approval, the first President Bush deployed 543,000 ground troops to protect Saudi Arabia from a possible Iraqi invasion. This operation was called Desert Shield. Furthermore, the U.S. sent additional troops in operation Desert Storm with nearly 100,000 Saudi troops sent by Fahad to form a US-Saudi army alliance, along with troops from other allied countries, to attack Iraqi troops in Kuwait and to stop further invasion. Iraqi troops were defeated within four days, causing the Iraqis to retreat. Since the Gulf War, the U.S. had a continued presence of 5,000 troops stationed in Saudi Arabia – a figure that rose to 10,000 during the 2003 conflict in Iraq. Operation Southern Watch enforced the no-fly zones over southern Iraq set up after 1991, and the country's oil exports through the shipping lanes of the Persian Gulf are protected by the US Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain.
On September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. and in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania by four hijacked airplanes killed 2,977 victims and cost an estimated $150 billion in property and infrastructure damage and economic impact. 15 of the 19 hijackers in the attacks came from Saudi Arabia, as did the leader of the hijackers' organization, Osama bin Laden. This led to a reassessment of the "oil-for-security" alliance with Saudi Arabia. A 2002 Council on Foreign Relations Terrorist Financing Task Force report found that: “For years, individuals and charities based in Saudi Arabia have been the most important source of funds for al-Qaeda. And for years, Saudi officials have turned a blind eye to this problem.” The Saudi government issued a statement on the day of the attacks calling them "regrettable and inhuman." Saudi recognition to the Taliban ended. The Bush administration continued to publicly praise Saudi support for the war on terrorism, while privately expressing frustration with Saudi inaction. Although 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals, the Saudis were not cooperating with Americans wanting to look at background files of the hijackers or interview the hijackers' families. There was strong support for Bin Laden's cause, though by 2006 the Saudi population become considerably more pro-American after Al-Qaeda linked groups staged attacks inside Saudi Arabia.
The Saudis decided to cooperate with the U.S. on the war on terror. King Abdullah gave the opening address of the Counter-terrorism International Conference (CTIC) held in Riyadh in 2005, and told his audience, "Terrorism does not belong to any culture, or religion, or political system", Al-Qaeda began launching multiple attacks targeting Saudi government buildings and U.S. compounds in Saudi Arabia. These attacks lessened support for Al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi government arrested a large number of Saudi terrorists and terrorists from other countries (some of them American) that had connections with al-Qaeda.
In 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton claimed that "donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide". She claimed that many charities serve as fronts for money laundering and terrorist financing operations. While many Saudis contribute to those charities in good faith believing their money goes toward good causes, it is alleged that others know full well the terrorist purposes to which their money will be applied. In September 2016, the Congress passed the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act that would allow relatives of victims of the September 11 attacks to sue Saudi Arabia for its government's alleged role in the attacks.
A bill approving a 2017 arms sale to Saudi Arabia was opposed by various lawmakers, including GOP Senators Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Todd Young and Dean Heller along with most Democrat Senator. They opposed the sale on the grounds of human rights violations by Saudi Arabia in the Yemeni Civil War. Last month (October 2018), allegations were raised about the Saudi government's complicity in the murder of a Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged Saudi Arabia to "support a thorough investigation" regarding the disappearance and "to be transparent about the results." President Trump said, "We cannot let this happen to reporters, to anybody. We're demanding everything. We want to see what's going on there." Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said "there would be hell to pay" if Saudi is involved in the murder of Khashoggi. He added, "If they're this brazen it shows contempt. Contempt for everything we stand for, contempt for the relationship."
In August 2016, Donald Trump Jr. met with an envoy representing Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and de facto ruler Mohammad bin Salman, and Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. The envoy offered help to the Trump presidential campaign. The meeting included Lebanese-American lobbyist George Nader, Joel Zamel, an Israeli specialist in social media manipulation, and Blackwater founder Erik Prince. This information was uncovered in the course of Robert Muller's investigation as Independent Counsel.
The nature of ongoing Saudi-US relations remains a complex issue. In January 2017, U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis "reaffirmed the importance of the U.S.-Saudi Arabia strategic relationship". Mattis has voiced support for a Saudi Arabian-led military campaign against Yemen's Shiite rebels and he asked the President Trump to remove restrictions on U.S. military support for Saudi Arabia.
Presidents have visited Saudi Arabia in the past, showing deference to the importance of this relationship. President George W. Bush made two visits to Saudi Arabia in 2008, the first time a U.S. president visited a foreign country twice in less than four months. King Abdullah made three visits to the US during the second Bush Presidency, in 2002, 2005 and 2008. Bush discussed the world economic crisis and how the financial position of both nations could be improved by the U.S.–Saudi relationship.
President Donald Trump authorized an arms deal with the Saudis that is worth nearly $110 billion. The agreement was signed on the May 20, 2017, and it includes training and close co-operation with the Saudi Arabian military. The deal was followed by an all-time high for US defense stocks. The Saudis also signed billions of dollars worth of business agreements with U.S. arms producers and energy companies, including Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, General Electric, Exxon Mobil, Halliburton, Honeywell, McDermott International, Jacobs Engineering Group, Rowan Companies, National Oilwell Varco, Nabors Industries, Weatherford International, Schlumberger and Dow Chemical. The US-Saudi relationship has a significant financial impact on the US economy.
While there is much to be critical of the Saudis in terms of their record on human rights and other aspects, Presidents from both political parties have understood the importance of maintaining the relationship for economic and national security reasons. On the former front, a break in the relationship would have devastating consequences for the US economy. On the latter, it is important to maintain the relationship in order to have a presence in the region where the biggest security threat to the United States in this century has come from, and where more future security threats are likely to arise.