2,357 Arabian Nights Later, Biden is Turning a New Leaf in Yemen
Jay Ramesh
2,357 days and nights. That’s how long the Yemeni Civil War has been raging on for.
Though the war is still far from being over, the Biden administration has made moves to change US Trump-era outlooks in Yemen. On Friday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the US will revoke the official designation of terrorist group from the Houthis by February 16. The move will not exempt the Houthis from US economic sanctions, but it will allow the supply of food, medical supplies, and other relief aid to resume flowing into Yemen.
This announcement signifies a significant shift away from Trump-era policy on Yemen, and subsequently on Iran. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo officially designated the Houthis, rebel insurgents fighting against the de jure Yemeni government, as a terrorist organization on January 19. The label prevented people affiliated with the Houthis from accessing any financial support, material, or other purchases affiliated with American institutions.
So food and other supplies can flow into Yemen again, great. But what’s the big picture here?
Well, the Trump administration’s policy towards the Middle East was marked by a general strategy of aggressive containment towards Iran. This manifested itself in sanctions on Iran, withdrawal of the US from the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal, and attempts to squeeze Iran out of supporting its allies in several proxy conflicts throughout the Middle East. By taking an aggressive stance towards Iran, the administration also tightened its relationship with Saudi Arabia, Iran’s number 1 adversary in the region.
And of course by “tightened its relationship”, I mean that the administration basically wrote the Saudi government blank checks to conduct a proxy war in Yemen.
The Biden administration has been working to change that narrative, and this shift in policy could signal a completely new approach to US foreign relations in the Middle East. Biden has already announced that the US will end its support for Saudi Arabia’s offensive operations in Yemen. Taking a step back from Trump’s hardline approach to Iran, and subsequently its close alignment with the Saudis, opens the door for a more, dare I say it, humanitarian approach to relations and conflicts in the Middle East.
Easing pressure on Iran and withdrawing support for the Saudi’s offensives in Yemen does not mean that the US is moving towards diplomatic isolationism, or that it’s showing weakness. Rather, Biden’s tougher and more principled approach to the Saudis has helped ease tensions in the region, furthering US interests in the region. The Saudis had effectively blockaded Qatar for 3 years, but Biden’s pressure has led to an end of the blockade, as well as the release of several Saudi political prisoners, including human rights activists.
This easing of tensions will reopen diplomatic possibilities in the region, including using newly-opened Qatari airspace and US military bases, which can all be used as leverage when negotiating with Iran. Taking a more balanced approach to the Middle East serves to reduce the possibility of alienating typically US-aligned nations like Qatar, while also allowing US foreign policy to be at least influenced by humanitarianism. Yemen may be a graveyard of Saudi tanks, soldiers, and dreams of an Iranian puppet state, but perhaps some good can eventually rise from the ashes.