Biden vows to defend Saudi Arabia

US president Joe Biden vowed to defend Saudi Arabia against attacks from Yemen's Houthi militants and discussed stability of global oil markets in a phone conversation today with Saudi King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz.

That the two leaders spoke is also significant. Today marks only the second reported conversation between them since Biden took office and promised to review US relations with Saudi Arabia and to end all US support for the Saudi-led military operations in Yemen.

But the Biden administration now sees the need to reassure Riyadh of its continued military support in the light of continuing missile and drone attacks from Yemen against civilian, military and energy facilities in Saudi Arabia. Riyadh says it can stop only 90pc of incoming aerial launches from Yemen.

The US administration plans to dispatch advanced aircraft as well as naval units to the UAE to strengthen Abu Dhabi's defenses against a recent spate of Houthi attacks against the UAE and says Saudi Arabia can count on similar support. While US administration officials have been careful not to blame Iran for the UAE attacks, the White House readout of the US-Saudi call said that the two leaders discussed "Iranian-enabled attacks by the Houthis" against Saudi Arabia.

Biden also briefed King Salman on the US-Iran diplomacy to restore curbs on Iran's nuclear program and lift sanctions against Iran's oil exports. If that diplomacy succeeds, it could realistically add 1.6mn b/d of Iranian crude to global supply within six to nine months of its implementation.

King Salman pledged support for US efforts "to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and stressed the need to work together to counter the destabilizing activities of Iran's proxies in the region," according to the Saudi readout of the conversation. But King Salman also said Riyadh is committed to "de-escalating tensions in the region and promoting dialogue" — a nod to a joint pledge by the US' Mideast Gulf Arab partners to reintegrate Iran in the regional economy if the nuclear deal with Tehran is restored.

The Biden White House since last summer called on Riyadh and its partners in the Opec+ deal to accelerate the pace of rolling back oil production cuts. But the producers' alliance has stuck to its previous schedule of raising output — an outcome that the White House has deemed acceptable.

"Both leaders further reiterated the US' and Saudi Arabia's commitment to ensuring the stability of global energy supplies," the White House said.

King Salman "stressed the importance of maintaining balance and stability in the oil markets, highlighting the role of the historic Opec+ agreement in this regard, and the importance of maintaining the agreement," according to the Saudi readout.

By Haik Gugarats