US’s Sullivan meets with Saudi Crown Prince; Biden administration works with allies to stop Houthi Red Sea attacks

14 Dec 2023

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to discuss the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, according to people familiar with the matter.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, who has made multiple trips to the Middle East in recent weeks, spoke about plans to deter attacks from Yemen-based Houthi rebels against commercial ships in the Red Sea, according to a US official.

The Crown Prince and Sullivan also sought to build on efforts to make peace between Israelis and Palestinians, the official said on condition of anonymity.

Civilian deaths in the Gaza Strip during Israel’s military campaign in response to Hamas’ 7 October attack have raised international pressure for a ceasefire, particularly from Arab countries.

Sullivan’s meeting with the crown prince comes as the US is attempting to both limit the Gaza crisis from spreading further into the region and salvage normalisation talks between Israel and Saudi Arabia that were in the works before the massacre by Hamas, which the US and European Union consider a terrorist group.

Amos Hochstein, the White House’s energy security adviser, said last week the US would continue work on normalising ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel, saying the war gave new momentum to the effort.

US officials in recent weeks have engaged with Arab states in hopes of securing commitments for aid and governance assistance to help rebuild a postwar Gaza.

Biden has ratcheted up pressure on Israel to accept a two-state solution with the Palestinians to end their decades-long conflict, with a strengthened Palestinian Authority running Gaza instead of Hamas.

The push has caused a public break with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose right-wing government has rejected those calls.

Sullivan’s meeting with the de facto Saudi leader also comes as the US has sought to stop Houthi strikes on commercial shipping. At least 10 merchant ships have been attacked or approached around Yemen since the beginning of the conflict in Gaza, with US warships repeatedly responding to distress calls.

Saudi Arabia has recently engaged in peace talks with the Iran-backed rebels.

The meeting is also taking place weeks after Opec+ concluded its most recent meeting, where Saudi Arabia and its allies agreed to make additional output cuts to support global prices.

But despite those cuts, crude futures have slipped further in the past two weeks amid concern about a glut on the market. US oil production has grown to a record this year, led by shale drillers in Texas and elsewhere, while Opec+ has ceded market share.

West Texas Intermediate climbed 1.3% to settle above $69 in a relief rally catalysed by overselling on Tuesday and a bullish oil inventory report Wednesday.

US is working with allies to stop Houthi Red Sea attacks

The US is working with allies to create a multinational effort to protect ships passing through the Red Sea in an effort to stem a surge in attacks by Houthi fighters that has provoked unease about commercial trade passing through one of the world’s most vital waterways.

An announcement could come any day following weeks of consultations about the violence, which began after Hamas attacked Israel and Israel struck back in the Gaza Strip.

The Houthis — based in Yemen and backed by Iran — vowed to target Israel’s assets until it abandons its campaign to destroy Hamas.

“We believe that the freedom of navigation and international waters is a rule of the international system that should be upheld,” Deputy Defence Secretary Kathleen Hicks said in an interview Wednesday with Bloomberg News.

“It’s an international problem. It’s going to take an international solution, and we’re working with allies and partners on that.”

Iran’s Defence Minister Mohammad-Reza Ashtiani called the plan “foolish” and said the US “will face tremendous problems” if they go ahead with it, the semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency reported on Thursday.

“No one can manoeuvre in a region that we dominate,” he added.

In a briefing earlier in the week, Major General Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, said the Defence Department would have more detail “in the near future” on “implementing a maritime task force”.

While Hicks said an international response is coming, she didn’t give a timeline or describe it as a task force.

Biden administration officials face a dilemma in striking back at the spate of attacks at sea. They have said they don’t want to be provoked into a broader Mideast war sought by Iran and its proxies, including the Houthis.

“The US has taken a defensive posture on this stuff and is trying to ensure that they don’t succeed in doing anything significant that would in fact force a response,” said Gerald Feierstein, a veteran diplomat and former US ambassador to Yemen who is now at the Middle East Institute.

“The Houthis may very much want to push the situation and force the US to respond aggressively, because they think that that will burnish their status as a member in good standing of the axis of resistance.”

The issue has become urgent amid a spike in attacks on ships in the Red Sea, which handles about 12% of global trade. The effort to deter further Houthi attacks on shipping was among topics discussed by US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

In one of the Red Sea attacks, armed guards on a ship — the Ardmore Encounter — traded fire with attackers on a small boat, days after another fuel tanker called the Strinda, which was hired by Eni SpA and heading to Italy, was struck by a missile in the Red Sea earlier this week.

The Houthis said they targeted the vessel because it was destined for Israel, and port information shows it was due to go there early next year.

The Houthis are still holding a car carrier called the Galaxy Leader that they seized on 19 November. That ship is part-owned by a company of Israeli businessman Rami Ungar.

The US says an expanded military force in the region will help deter future Houthi attacks. But some Republican legislators have said the Biden administration has been too slow and cautious in striking back at the Houthis.

“The question I think Iran is looking at is, do we have the resolve?” Representative Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said last week on CNN. DM

Read more in Daily Maverick: Israel-Palestine War

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US is working with allies to stop Houthi Red Sea attacks