In an informal conversation on the sidelines of the Yalta Conference of February 1945 (which brought together US President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, who were negotiating the end of the Second World War, as well as a framework for durable peace and the international order that would underpin this peace) ,Stalin to persuade Roosevelt to extend his visit to Yalta towards the end of the conference. Roosevelt replied that he had had prior engagements with three kings in the Near East, among them the late King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud. Stalin then asked him: “What gift are you intending to offer Ibn Saud?” Roosevelt answered that the privilege he could offer was the six million Jews living in the United States.
The much-anticipated meeting between King Abdulaziz and President Roosevelt took place on the 14th of February 1945. The “gift” was declined, with the King stressing that Palestine and all Arab land belongs to its people and countering that it is those who have wronged the Jews who are the ones responsible for resettling them in their own countries. Roosevelt promised, and then put his commitment in writing through a letter to King Abdulaziz, that he would not pursue any policy against the Arabs on this matter without prior coordination with the King. Roosevelt later told his special adviser, Bernard Baruch: “Of all the men I have dealt with in my life, I have never met anyone like this Arab king; I could not get even the most minor concession out of him. The man has an iron will.”
Alas, Roosevelt died less than two months after this meeting. He was succeeded by President Harry Truman, who reaffirmed the promise Roosevelt had made in his meeting with King Abdulaziz, but he failed to follow through for electoral considerations. Then came the declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel and US recognition of this state.
This historic meeting affirmed the significance of their bilateral strategic relationship, which has held firm for eight decades despite all the strain and challenges, none more destabilizing than US administrations’ attempts to force the Kingdom's hand and tie the two nations’ interests to those of other countries, particularly Israel. That meeting laid the principle that shaped their alliance: interests must remain isolated from regional tensions, with both countries entitled to independent positions on contested issues, notably on the just Palestinian cause and the conflict between the Arab states and Israel. The Kingdom has never wavered on this principle.
CIA documents show that President Eisenhower sent a delegation to King Saud tasked with convincing him to change his position regarding Egypt. The latter stood with Egypt as it defended itself against the Tripartite Aggression that followed the nationalization of the Suez Canal in 1956. The delegation’s objective was to persuade King Saud that President Nasser posed a threat. If persuasion failed, they were told to make threats: Western powers would dispense with Arab oil and seek alternatives; they claimed that nuclear energy, whose industrial applications the United States had been expanding, would provide a substitute for petroleum.
King Saud and his crown prince, Prince Faisal, were not convinced. For one thing, they did not want to go against the Arab public, and regarding the claim that the Kingdom's oil was dispensable, King Saud’s written response (which, according to these same documents, had been built on Prince Faisal’s thorough examination of nuclear energy) was that abandoning oil was impossible. One member of the delegation, as they departed, reportedly told his colleagues: “The simple desert folk have uncovered our ruse.”
Saudi Arabia continued its support for Egypt and remained opposed to the Tripartite Aggression that followed the nationalization decree. President Kennedy, a few years later, adopted positions that went against those of the Kingdom, but both sides maintained their independent stances, and bilateral relations were not undermined.
Under King Faisal’s leadership, Saudi Arabia used weaponized oil in 1973. Despite all the threats, he leveraged this resource to serve the Arab cause. Even then, the United States never lost sight of the Kingdom’s strategic importance. The Americans understood that both countries needed to find a way to pursue their shared interests and to insulate them from regional conflicts. Relations were put back on track soon after, with President Richard Nixon visiting the Kingdom in 1974. His discussions with King Faisal laid the groundwork for a genuine strategic partnership.
The Saudi American Joint Commission for Economic Cooperation was established, marking a new era for bilateral cooperation across industrial, commercial, agricultural, scientific, and technological fields. The body played a crucial role in the evolution of relations between the two countries. Moreover, it paved the way for future partnerships and mutually beneficial economic cooperation that served a broader strategic alliance between the two nations, particularly on oil and energy security.
This agreement remained in force despite many divergences between the two states over the years, mostly on regional issues, especially the Arab–Israeli conflict and the resolution of the Palestinian question.
The Kingdom has put forward two peace initiatives for the region: King Fahd’s initiative (1981) and King Abdullah’s Peace Initiative (2002), known as the Arab Peace Initiative. However, the United States did not approach either of them with the determination they deserved. Its policy on the Palestinian question remained hostage to the whims of the Israelis.
When King Abdullah (may he rest in peace) was crown prince, he remarked that President Bush had no interest in the Palestinian question. Before the events of September 11, he had sent President Bush a message warning that “our friendship has reached a crossroads: either we remain together, or we part ways.” In response, President Bush dispatched his Secretary of State, Colin Powell, to meet with Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Kingdom’s ambassador to the United States at the time. This was part of the Kingdom's effort to compel the Americans to turn their attention to the Palestinian cause, with the president having been scheduled to give a statement that addresses the matter on 12 September 2001.
Unfortunately, the events of September 11 froze this initiative. Once the dust had settled, however, the President announced his initiative for resolving the Palestinian issue at Annapolis.
The Obama administration sought to force the Kingdom’s hand with regard to Iran. It did not succeed. The first Trump administration, and then the Biden administration, both sought to push the Kingdom toward normalization with Israel, tying the restoration of the two countries’ strategic relations to progress on this matter. Again, the Kingdom stood firm, insisting that the Palestinian question must be resolved through a just solution acceptable to the Palestinians first before discussions about the future of relations with Israel could begin.
The recent historic visit by Prince Mohammed bin Salman succeeded (thanks to the iron resolve inherited from his grandfather and intensive diplomacy) in putting bilateral relations back on course and liberating them from the interests of others. As Prince Mohammed stated at the White House, the arrangements (covering all sectors) between the two parties serve the interests of the two countries alone.
They lay the foundation for cooperation on restoring security and stability in the Middle East, which will remain elusive without a just resolution of the Palestinian issue and the implementation of the two-state solution that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is pursuing. He clarified that none of the agreements were concluded to please President Trump. They were not reached because the Americans had asked for them, but primarily to serve the interests of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its people.
Accordingly, we are seeing the Kingdom remain steadfast in its commitment to its principles. It has remained consistent from the era of the grandfather to the era of the grandson, especially regarding the Palestinian cause. Prince Mohammed made this clear in his response to a journalist’s question at the White House: there will be no normalization with Israel until a clear path is found toward a two-state solution.
