WASHINGTON — For those eager to know what President Barack Obama will be telling King Abdullah in Saudi Arabia next month, comments Wednesday [Feb. 19] by Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns provided a likely preview.
Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Burns put forward a case for reducing US friction with the Saudis and other Sunni Arab powers, arguing that the US takes their concerns about Iran and Syria seriously and that “our Gulf partners know that no country or collection of countries can do for the Gulf states what the United States has done and continues to do.”


Since August, when the Obama administration threatened but ultimately chose not to use force against Syria for its apparent use of chemical weapons, Saudi officials have been outspoken in criticizing the US for what they perceive as a lack of leadership. Recent progress in nuclear talks with Iran appears to have poured salt on Saudi wounds as concerns rise that an improvement in US relations with Iran will come at the expense of long-time Arab allies across the Persian Gulf.


Asked by Al-Monitor how Obama could calm Saudi fears, Burns said, “part of the answer lies in the quality of the agreement” being negotiated by the US, the other five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany and Iran. If a comprehensive agreement can “demonstrate the peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program,” Burns said, that “will go a long way” toward convincing US Gulf allies that a nuclear deal is in their interests, too.


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