As the United States and Iran continue to wrestle with ways to end the standoff in the nuclear talks, there is a possibility that the diplomatic track will soon collapse. If so, where will that put the Gulf States since they are frontline countries in any effort to confront Tehran or to incentivize it to change course in terms of its nuclear and regional policies? How does Washington see the role of the Gulf States in the event that the Biden administration needs to come up with a Plan B toward Iran?
BEIRUT
Throughout his campaign, President Biden vowed to take a harder line with Saudi Arabia. Its leaders, he insisted, would need to act responsibly or “pay the price” for reckless moves and be made “the pariah that they are.”
But after his administration released a declassified U.S. intelligence report last week blaming Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the 2018 killing of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, it didn’t quite work out that way.
Washington imposed sanctions on the hit team dispatched to capture or kill Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, and placed visa restrictions on 76 others it said had threatened dissidents overseas. The crown prince, who the U.S. says ordered Khashoggi’s silencing, was left untouched.