Is the ‘Obama Doctrine’ Back in Vogue?

Does President Biden, who swore that “human rights” would guide his foreign policy, share Mideast goals with China’s party boss, Xi Jinping? We ask because for some reason White House officials are lauding Beijing’s achievement in brokering a Saudi-Iranian deal, signed Friday, to renew diplomatic relations. Wouldn’t America be better off pushing the Saudis to join the Abraham accords and establish diplomatic relations with Israel?Top officials of the House of Saud and the Islamic Republic hailed Communist China’s leadership in brokering a deal to renew diplomatic relations, severed in 2016 after the Saudi embassy at Tehran was assaulted by regime supporters. Washington is cheering: “To the degree that it could deescalate tensions, all that’s to the good side of the ledger,” the National Security Council spokesman, John Kirby, told reporters Friday. Seems that a “doctrine” Mr. Biden’s old boss, President Obama, articulated in 2016 is back in vogue: The Saudis and Iranians need to “find an effective way to share the neighborhood,” Mr. Obama told the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg. Well, now they seem to agree — except, rather than doing the “sharing” under the auspices of Washington do-gooders, they bow to Communist China, our top competitors for global leadership. In reality, rapprochement between the two claimants for leadership of rivaling Islamic sects is not around the corner. Why, our Benny Avni asked last week, would Iran stop sponsoring its Yemeni proxy, the Houthis, who often attack Saudi oil facilities? Riyadh finances Iran International and other publications dedicated to undermining the mullahs’ regime. A pen stroke is unlikely to erase all, or even most of, the bad blood between these rivals. Yet, what Beijing’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, declared as his country’s “victory” bears watching. Mr. Biden fricasseed the crow he is eating. From day one he lashed at the Saudi de-facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, vowing to make him a “pariah,” and threatening to deny arms for Riyadh. At the same time, Mr. Biden diligently sought to appease Iran on the nuclear deal. No wonder MBS is cozying up to Beijing. Beyond America’s loss of Mideast swagger, we wonder about Mr. Biden’s priorities: Why would “deescalation” between the Saudis and Tehran, which seeks to dominate the region with nuclear weapons, be a good thing? Is America seeking to bail out a regime so oppressive that desperate Iranians brave prison, bullets, and gallows to overthrow? Where is Mr. Biden’s “human rights-based” foreign policy when it is most needed?In a little noticed development on the same day that Beijing sponsored a Saudi-Iranian rapprochement, Iranian officials said that Washington agreed to release to Iran part of the millions of dollars held in Iraq as part of American sanctions on Iran. Even as he by now seeks to repair ties with the Saudis, Mr. Biden is systematically eroding sanctions imposed by President Trump as part of his “maximum pressure” on Iran. The Saudis still prize their decades-old American alliance. Yet MBS is now shrewdly upping the ante. He’s reportedly seeking written defense guarantees from Washington, and he wants nuclear plants for peaceful purposes. In return, he would join the Abraham accords. The right move for Mr. Biden is to invite him to hash out the details. A Saudi-Israeli peace deal would be the best antidote to Messrs. Xi’s and Obama’s Mideast “sharing.”

Is the ‘Obama Doctrine’ Back in Vogue?

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