Failure of the US to secure the sea lanes in the Persian Gulf has drawn the ire of Gulf States. Recent ship seizures by Iran have prompted sharp criticism from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), among others. American allies in the region are wondering where the US protection is. Iran’s gulf piracy operations reflect disrespect for the US presence and a growing pervasive lack of confidence in the Biden administration’s overall Middle East policy. In short, the Biden team is losing the Middle East. The US has been ineffective in preventing the third-rate Iranian navy from seizing petroleum tankers in international waters, and the UAE has made its disappointment in the Navy’s performance public.
“The Emirati complaints, expressed to US officials in Abu Dhabi and Washington in recent weeks, mark another moment of disappointment among America’s Middle East partners with security in the Persian Gulf, where more than a third of the world’s seaborne crude oil transits,” Benoit Faucon and Dion Nissenbaum reported for The Wall Street Journal. Gulf states depend on unfettered access to the Persian Gulf and Straits of Hormuz. However, they are discouraged by the Biden administration for failing to prevent attacks by Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy. Most recently, “US officials said the Emiratis were frustrated by the lack of an American response to Iran’s seizure of tankers on April 27 and May 3,” the WSJ said. This translates to a belief that the US doesn’t have a solid commitment to the region.
Middle East Not Impressed
The UAE government made its irritation known when the Emiratis pulled out of the 38-nation Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) two months ago. The UAE Foreign Ministry, in a public announcement, explained that the country withdrew from the CMF because it was not persuaded of the effectiveness of the security forces. “Political analysts say the Emirati statement could be intended as a message to the United States that the country is displeased with the level of American protection for its allies in the Persian Gulf against threats from Iran and must look out for its own interests,” Vivian Nereim wrote for The New York Times.
The Emirates are still members and “partners” in the Maritime Force, according to the US Central Command’s 5th Fleet spokesman, Commander Timothy Hawkins. But the UAE is “putting its participation on hold…The CMF still includes 38 partner nations, of which the UAE is one,” Hawkins told Agence France Presse recently. The fact is that what traditionally has been one of America’s strongest allies in the region has demonstrably lost confidence in the security the US provides in the Gulf. For many Middle East countries watching the geopolitical movement recently, the takeaway is that the US is no longer a forceful presence.
Not Minding the Store Opens the Door to China and Russia
In an opinion piece by Dr. Marwa El-Shinawy in MENAFN, an Amman, Jordon-based Middle East financial and world news service, may be a compelling cautionary message for the Biden administration. Drawing from what she sees as increasingly strained relations with Saudi Arabia and the UAE and the intervention of China to broker an agreement between the governments of Saudi Arabia and Iran, excluding the US, El-Shinawy concluded:
“These recent transformations also confirm that the US withdrawal from the region has given space to both Russia and China combined to fill the political vacuum in the region and seek to create a consensual geostrategic environment to bring about economic partnerships and constructive political balances that help strengthen their presence as active poles in the new global system.”
Joe Biden (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
It’s not difficult to understand how Middle Eastern governments could come to the same point of view. The Biden administration’s treatment of Middle East partners and friends has, at best, been lukewarm and sometimes confrontational. President Biden’s encounter with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud over commitments for Saudi Arabian oil was not his finest hour and played out poorly for the US. The failure of America to respond rapidly to the January 17, 2022, deadly drone strike on a refinery at an Abu Dhabi industrial park was viewed as a lack of support from the Biden administration. More confusing for the Emiratis was that the terrorist group of Iran-backed Houthi rebels that launched the air attack is no longer designated by Biden’s State Department as terrorists.
To add to the perception America is not committed to the Middle East, “The US has withdrawn air defense systems and reduced its Navy rotations Gulf region in recent years. Pentagon officials say the withdrawals are necessary as the US prepares to deter future confrontations with China and Russia,” Jared Szuba reported for Al-Monitor. The result has been that the “reduced footprint has led to a crisis of faith among partners and allies in the Gulf region,” Szuba warned. The optimism left by the Trump administration, having secured the historic Abraham Accords normalizing relationships between the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco with Israel, has faded with the Biden administration. The current White House needs to mind the store in the Middle East.
