Oil: "Saudi spy chief says Riyadh to "shift away from U.S." over Syria, Iran"
From Reuters:
Saudi Arabia's
intelligence chief has said the kingdom will make a "major shift" in
relations with the United States in protest at its perceived inaction
over the Syria war and its overtures to Iran, a source close to Saudi
policy said on Tuesday.
Prince Bandar bin Sultan told
European diplomats that Washington had failed to act effectively on the
Syria crisis and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, was growing closer to
Tehran, and had failed to back Saudi support for Bahrain when it
crushed an anti-government revolt in 2011, the source said.
It was not immediately clear if Prince Bandar's reported statements had the full backing of King Abdullah.
"The
shift away from the U.S. is a major one," the source close to Saudi
policy said. "Saudi doesn't want to find itself any longer in a
situation where it is dependent."
The United States and Saudi Arabia have been
allies since the kingdom was declared in 1932, giving Riyadh a powerful
military protector and Washington secure oil supplies.
The
prince's initiative follows a surprise Saudi decision on Friday to
reject a coveted two-year term on the U.N. Security Council in protest
at "double standards" at the United Nations.
Prince
Bandar, who was Saudi ambassador to Washington for 22 years, is seen as
a foreign policy hawk, especially on Iran. The Sunni Muslim kingdom's
rivalry with Shi'ite Iran, an ally of Syria, has amplified sectarian
tensions across the Middle East.
A
son of the late defence minister and crown prince, Prince Sultan, and a
protégé of the late King Fahd, he fell from favour with King Abdullah
after clashing on foreign policy in 2005.
But
he was called in from the cold last year with a mandate to bring down
President Bashar al-Assad, diplomats in the Gulf say. Over the past year
he has led Saudi efforts to bring arms and other aid to Syrian rebels
while his cousin, Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, worked the
diplomatic corridors.
"ALL OPTIONS ON TABLE"
"Prince
Bandar told diplomats that he plans to limit interaction with the
U.S.," the source close to Saudi policy said. "This happens after the
U.S. failed to take any effective action on Syria and Palestine....MORE
