by Con Coughlin
Nothing better illustrates the utter ineptitude of the Biden administration's dealings with the Middle East than Saudi Arabia's decision to forge a strategic alliance with China.
Biden set the tone for his strained relationship with the Saudi royal family during the 2020 presidential election contest when he denounced the kingdom as a "pariah" state over its involvement in the murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018, although there has never any audible distress from the Biden administration over Iran's 2007 abduction and presumed death of ex-FBI agent Robert Levinson.
By any standard, the deepening military cooperation between Russia and Iran should serve as a wake-up call to the Biden administration to redouble its efforts to reaffirm its commitment to key allies in the region such as the Saudis, who are committed to resisting any attempt by Tehran to expand its malign influence in the region.
That Riyadh is now moving away from its traditional alliance with the US and strengthening its ties with Beijing is a strategic disaster of epic proportions, and serves as a damning indictment of the Biden administration's careless treatment of the Saudis, for which the president is personally to blame.
That Saudi Arabia is now moving away from its traditional alliance with the US and strengthening its ties with China is a strategic disaster of epic proportions, and serves as a damning indictment of the Biden administration's careless treatment of the Saudis.
Nothing better illustrates the utter ineptitude of the Biden administration's dealings with the Middle East than Saudi Arabia's decision to forge a strategic alliance with China.
This is a time when Washington should be working overtime to strengthen its ties with long-standing allies like the Saudis to combat the mounting threat Iran poses to the region's security.
Apart from the deeply alarming progress the ayatollahs are said to be making with their efforts to produce nuclear weapons.
The new "axis of evil" that has been formed between Moscow and Tehran in recent months means Iran will soon be taking delivery of state-of-the-art Russian warplanes to add to its military arsenal.
In what both the White House and Downing Street described as "sordid deals" between the two countries, Iran is due to take delivery of Russian Su-35 fighter jets next year as well as other advanced military equipment and components, including helicopters and air defence systems. In return Iran is providing Russia with hundreds of its Shahed-131 and Shahed-136 so-called kamikaze drones, which self-destruct on hitting their target.
As US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby explained at a briefing in Washington, Moscow has "offered Iran an unprecedented level of military and technical support", which "transforms their relationship into a full defense partnership".
Biden administration officials added that Iranian pilots were already being trained in Russia on how to fly the Su-35 fighter.
By any standard, the deepening military cooperation between Russia and Iran should serve as a wake-up call to the Biden administration to redouble its efforts to reaffirm its commitment to key allies in the region such as the Saudis, who are committed to resisting any attempt by Tehran to expand its malign influence in the region.
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Con Coughlin is the Telegraph's Defence and Foreign Affairs Editor and a Shillman Journalism Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
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Pictured: The Chinese and the Saudi flags fly in Riyadh, on December 7, 2022, ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the Saudi capital. (Photo by Fayez Nureldine/AFP via Getty Images)
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