Secretary of State Antony Blinken attempted to mend President Joe Biden’s increasingly strained relationship with Gulf states on Tuesday in a meeting with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, following a conversation with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have both expressed increasing frustration with the Biden administration’s failure to address the potential global implications of the seven-year-old Yemeni civil war, which overflowed into Saudi Arabia last week as the Iran-backed Houthi terrorist organization bombed oil facilities belonging to the Saudi state oil corporation Aramco. Saudi officials have repeatedly warned that Houthi attacks on oil assets could threaten the global fuel supply at a time in which the war between Russia and Ukraine has triggered shortages and record-high prices. READ MORE