Reuters: Saudi Arabia did not participate in the US coalition to maintain relations with Iran

According to the report of Fars International News Agency, an English media wrote in an analysis on Thursday that Saudi Arabia does not want to disturb the reconciliation with Iran by participating in the American naval coalition in the Red Sea.

Reuters writes that when the United States of America announced the formation of a naval coalition under its leadership to protect ships in the Red Sea, the absence of the name of Saudi Arabia among the countries participating in this plan stood out and probably caused consternation among experts.

According to this report, although Saudi Arabia has an army equipped with American weapons and started a war against Yemen’s Houthis (Ansarullah) about 9 years ago, and in addition to 36% of its imports depend on Red Sea ports, but Riyadh and its allies in the Persian Gulf countries showed no desire to participate in this coalition.

This media wrote: “It seems that the reason The main reason for this lack of presence was (Riyadh’s) concern about the possibility of deviating from its long-term strategic goal of withdrawing from the chaotic war in Yemen and avoiding destructive tension with Iran. It currently controls a large part of Yemen. Since the beginning of Israel’s attacks in Gaza, it has announced that it will attack ships owned by or under the flag of Israel in the Red Sea.

According to Axios In the past few weeks, the ships that were going to other ports outside of Israel have also had to use longer routes so as not to be the target of the Yemeni attacks.

Israel in Gaza, the Yemeni army has also narrowed the field for Israeli ships that intend to cross the Bab al-Mandab strait in the Red Sea. Find Yemen. In its report two weeks ago, the Axios website quoted a senior Israeli official as claiming that Netanyahu’s war cabinet has decided to refrain from military response to the actions of Yemen’s Ansarullah in the Red Sea against Israeli ships for the time being.

The US President Joe Biden’s government has sent a message to Ansarullah through several channels, asking them to stop attacking ships in the Red Sea.

But the American officials admit that these warnings have not had any effect on the Houthis (Ansarullah) and they have not reduced the intensity of their attacks.

The formation of a new naval coalition is one of the other options that the US and Israel plan to form to deal with the Yemeni army. Despite this, the non-participation of Saudi Arabia and the UAE has made the success of this plan uncertain.

Reuters news agency wrote that American officials did not directly say that Saudi Arabia and the UAE are in this coalition. They did not participate, they refused. Spokesmen for the governments of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment on the issue. What is clear is that they do not want to be seen as participating countries in a campaign that may harm their long-term strategy. In addition, such an action will provoke the anger of the Arab world countries against them.

Two sources in the Persian Gulf who are familiar with this issue told Reuters news agency that the reason for the absence of Saudi Arabia and the UAE is this. that they want to avoid escalating tensions with Iran or jeopardizing the peace in Yemen.

Iyad al-Rifai, from King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, said: “The occurrence of another war means moving from one The political process is another military process that will change the geopolitical map of the Middle East for a long time. The two countries have been trying to transform their regional politics for years now by finding new partners.

Saudi Arabia took the biggest step in this direction with the agreement brokered by China with Iran. Is. This agreement was reached in February in Beijing.

The Saudis also want to end their 9-year war in Yemen. According to Reuters, this war has now reached a stalemate that has damaged the prestige of Saudi Arabia due to Yemen’s attacks on Saudi airports and energy bases, causing insecurity in the country.

A coalition led by Saudi Arabia Since April 2014, the poor country of Yemen has been targeted by heavy air, land and sea attacks in order to restore power to “Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi”, the resigned president of Yemen.

These attacks will destroy Yemen’s infrastructure and the spread of poverty, unemployment and the spread of infectious diseases in this poor Arab country have led. Since the beginning of these attacks, tens of thousands of Yemeni civilians have been martyred and injured.

According to Reuters, peace in Yemen is also important for the UAE, although in 2020 the country will spend most of its forces removed from the war. The UAE still supports Yemeni groups, and Yemen’s Ansarullah targeted Abu Dhabi with drone and missile attacks last year.

Reuters writes that Israel’s attacks in Gaza have caused Saudi Arabia’s efforts to normalize relations with Israel should be derailed.

On the other hand, according to this analysis, many Arab countries have welcomed Ansarullah’s attacks on Israeli ships and considered it a rare example of necessary action by Arab countries. have described in support of Palestinians.

Meanwhile, “CNN” news channel reported today that American intelligence agencies say that the Al-Aqsa storm and Israel’s war against Gaza strengthen the domestic and regional position of Hamas. It has been done.

“Analysis (by US intelligence agencies) warns that Hamas’s influence has increased since its attack on Israel”; This is the headline of CNN’s report about the opinion of US intelligence agencies regarding the current situation of Hamas. that the credibility and influence of Hamas in the Middle East and beyond, after the October 7th attack and Israel’s military response, has increased significantly.” Gerald Fierstein, former US ambassador to Yemen, told Reuters He said that the United States is probably not very happy that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have not publicly supported the formation of this working group. The Middle East is still the most important ally of this country and the main supplier of its weapons.

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