DUBAI: Saudi Arabia feels “let down” by the United States in tackling security threats to the kingdom and wider region by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement, a senior member of the Saudi royal family and former intelligence chief said.

Traditionally strong ties between Riyadh and Washington have been shaken under US President Joe Biden by the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of Saudi agents and the ruinous Yemen war in which a Saudi-led coalition has been battling the Houthis for seven years.

“Saudis consider the relationship as being strategic, but (feel) as being let down at a time when we thought that America and Saudi Arabia should be together in facing what we would consider to be a joint, not just irritant, but danger to the stability and security of the area,” Prince Turki al-Faisal said, referring to Houthi missile and drone attacks.

His remarks came in a video interview with Saudi newspaper Arab News published on Monday.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which rely on the US security umbrella, have chafed at what they see as declining US commitment to their region. The Ukraine conflict highlighted strains as the Gulf Opec producers resisted calls to help isolate Russia and pump more oil to tame prices.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2022