meed-logo

line1 line2 line3
SIGN IN / REGISTER

US foreign policy approach remains adrift

24 May 2024

Commentary
Edmund O'Sullivan
Former editor of MEED

Former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Chas Freeman, said in May that the US has no Middle East strategy and is stumbling from one improvisation to the next.

Some say this is because Secretary of State Tony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan both rose to where they are now principally because of their loyalty to the Democratic Party generally and President Joe Biden specifically. Their influence is consequently shaped more by political considerations than a broader understanding of the complexities of international affairs or America’s long-term interests.

There is little chance that this short-term approach will change, regardless of who wins in November’s presidential poll. Donald Trump is focusing on what will work for him this autumn and, if elected, will likely continue to follow a formula of self-interest; what works for the US in the Middle East will always come second.

There is little chance that this short-term approach will change

If there was a golden era for US Middle East policy, it may have begun in 1945 when President Roosevelt met Saudi Arabia’s King Abdul Aziz Al Saud to reach an understanding between the world’s most robust democracy and one of the most conservative kingdoms that served the interests of both.

In 1956, President Eisenhower then intervened to force Britain and France to stop their war on Egypt over the Suez Canal. From then on, the US became the dominant foreign force in much of the region and a welcome alternative to the old imperial powers and the Soviet Union.

That balance was lost in 1967, however, when President Johnson stood behind Israel despite its expansionary war against Egypt, Syria and Jordan.

A brief flicker of hope flared following the 1973 Arab-Israel war, but by then the polarisation in the region was reflected in US policy.

It was not until 1991, after Iraq had been expelled from Kuwait by a coalition that enjoyed almost unanimous Arab support, that a new opportunity arose for the US to at last develop a strategy that was built on solid foundations. 

The Madrid conference in October 1991 put Washington at the heart of a multilateral process that aimed to bridge the gap between Israel and the Arab nations. This was destroyed, however, by President Clinton – another political partisan – who opted for the bilateral approach defined by the Oslo agreements of 1993. It was bound to fail, and did.

Optimists say we will have to wait at least four more years before there is another opportunity for Washington to get it right. Pessimists say it will take longer than that, perhaps a generation or more. But what if they are both wrong and the long-term plan that Ambassador Freeman wants, and we all yearn for, does not actually exist? 

Connect with Edmund O’Sullivan on Twitter

More from Edmund O’Sullivan:

> Rainmaking in the world economy
> New shock treatment for Egypt’s economy
> Syria’s long march in from the cold
> Lebanon’s pain captured in a call from Beirut
> Troubled end to 2023 bodes ill for stability
> The Holy Land and delusions it inspires
> Region to mark golden jubilee of 1973 war
> Gulf funds help reshape football
> When a war crime is denied
> Embracing the new Washington consensus

https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/11814753/main.gif
Edmund O’Sullivan

Register for MEED's guest program now to access this article.

Click here to register
Exclusive from Meed
Related Articles
  • AtkinsRealis confirms Sphere Abu Dhabi role

    4 August 2026

    AtkinsRealis has confirmed it has been appointed lead design and supervision consultant on the $1.7bn Sphere Abu Dhabi project on Yas Island.

    The Canadian engineering and project management firm said it will partner with local firm Alec Engineering & Contracting on the venue, which is scheduled to open in 2029.

    AtkinsRealis will be responsible for overall design coordination across architecture, structural engineering and specialist immersive technologies. Alec – appointed by Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture & Tourism (DCT Abu Dhabi) – will oversee procurement, construction delivery and project completion.

    The project is being delivered under a design-and-build framework.

    Alec Holdings confirmed in May that its subsidiary, Alec Engineering & Contracting, had received a letter of award for the construction contract. MEED previously reported that Alec was the selected contractor and had been working on the project during the pre-construction phase.

    Sphere Abu Dhabi will be built on Yas Island on a plot between Yas Mall and SeaWorld Abu Dhabi. It will be the first Sphere venue outside the US and is expected to echo the scale of Sphere Las Vegas, with a capacity of up to 20,000, depending on configuration.

    The venue will feature a fully programmable LED exosphere and a wraparound interior display capable of delivering 16K-resolution visuals, alongside beamforming audio technology that can direct sound to individual seats.

    DCT Abu Dhabi is developing Sphere Abu Dhabi with US-based Sphere Entertainment.

    READ THE AUGUST 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF

    Saudi Arabia builds for the global stage; Rising uncertainty creates fresh set of challenges in the Maghreb; Gulf banks remain robust in the face of geopolitical tensions.

    Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the August 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:

    > MARKET FOCUS: Maghreb fortunes diverge
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/18079715/main.jpg
    Colin Foreman
  • Opec+ agrees sixth straight month of oil output hikes

    3 August 2026

    Opec+ has approved an oil production quota increase of around 188,000 barrels a day (b/d) from September, completing the unwinding of a layer of voluntary output cuts by its main member countries.

    Due to export disruptions from the Gulf, Russia and Kazakhstan caused by the Iran and Ukraine wars, successive monthly Opec+ output hikes over most of this year have remained largely on paper, with little impact on the market.

    The September increase agreed by core Opec+ members – Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria, Kazakhstan and Oman – at a meeting on 2 August completes the phased rollback of a 1.65 million b/d supply cut originally agreed in 2023, when the group still included the UAE, which left Opec in May.

    A separate Opec+ meeting of a panel called the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee also met on 2 August and reiterated concern about attacks on energy assets during the US-Israeli war on Iran, saying they are expensive and time-consuming to repair and therefore can affect supply.

    With September’s output hike now agreed, Opec+ still has one more layer of output cuts in place that applies to most of the group’s members. These roughly 2 million b/d of cuts date back to 2022 and are due to remain in place until the end of this year.

    Opec+ is carrying out a review of its members’ oil production capacity that will be used to set the 2027 output baselines from which quotas are calculated.

    It faces potentially difficult talks over new production quotas, with some members, including Iraq, pushing for higher individual quotas to reflect their higher capacity.

    Opec+ is an alliance of 21 countries, comprising members of Opec along with a group of 10 non-Opec states led by Russia.

    In recent years, only the seven core countries – and the UAE until its departure – have been involved in monthly production management.

    The seven members will hold their next meeting on 6 September.

    READ THE AUGUST 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF

    Saudi Arabia builds for the global stage; Rising uncertainty creates fresh set of challenges in the Maghreb; Gulf banks remain robust in the face of geopolitical tensions.

    Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the August 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:

    > MARKET FOCUS: Maghreb fortunes diverge
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/18043979/main4234.jpg
    Indrajit Sen
  • Dewa opens bids for MBR Solar Park phase seven

    3 August 2026

     

    Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa) has opened bids for the seventh phase of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Solar Park.

    According to a source, technical and financial offers were opened last month. The utility received bids on 1 July. 

    Phase seven will add 2,000MW from photovoltaic solar panels and include a 1,400MW battery energy storage system (bess) with a six-hour capacity, providing a total storage capacity of 8,400 megawatt-hours. 

    It is understood that Saudi Arabia’s Acwa, the UAE’s Etihad Water & Electricity and Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) are among the companies that submitted bids for the project.

    The winning bidder “is likely” to come from one of those three, a source told MEED.

    As MEED understands, the previously prequalified Electricite de France did not submit a bid for the project.

    Dewa completed the prequalification process for the latest phase of the world’s largest single-site solar park in 2025. 

    As previously reported, 47 firms submitted their responses to Dewa’s expression of interest request for the contract in March 2025. The main tender was issued last November.

    The following companies were among those prequalified to submit main contract bids on the project:

    • Acwa (Saudi Arabia) 
    • Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar)
    • Electricite de France (EDF)
    • Etihad Water & Electricity (EtihadWE)
    • China Machinery Engineering Corporation
    • China Construction Eighth Engineering Division
    • Power China
    • Larsen & Toubro (India)
    • Shanghai Electric Group

    The transaction advisory team for the project comprises UK-headquartered Deloitte and US-based CMS and Sargent & Lundy as financial, legal and technical advisers, with Deloitte acting as lead adviser. 

    Meanwhile, construction on the 1,800MW sixth phase of the MBR Solar Park is nearing completion, with commissioning expected by the end of the third quarter.

    Dewa and Masdar reached financial close for the $1.5bn project in 2024. Once completed, the sixth phase will increase the solar park’s total production capacity to 4,660MW.

    Dewa increased its flagship solar project’s 2030 installed capacity target by 45% in 2025, from 5,000MW to 7,260MW. This comprises a total investment of AED50bn ($13.6bn).

    READ THE AUGUST 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF

    Saudi Arabia builds for the global stage; Rising uncertainty creates fresh set of challenges in the Maghreb; Gulf banks remain robust in the face of geopolitical tensions.

    Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the August 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:

    > MARKET FOCUS: Maghreb fortunes diverge
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/18031819/main0723.jpg
    Mark Dowdall
  • Three groups bid for $5bn Asir-Jizan highway

    3 August 2026

     

    Three groups have submitted bids for an estimated SR20bn ($5bn) contract to develop and operate the Asir-Jizan highway project on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis.

    According to sources close to the project, the consortiums that bid are:

    • Lamar Holding (local) / Shaanxi Construction Engineering (China) / Safari (local)
    • Vision Invest (local) / China Harbour Engineering Company (China)
    • Plenary (Australia) / Alayuni (local) / Limak Holding (Turkey) / Nesma & Partners (local)

    Saudi Arabia’s Roads General Authority, the National Centre for Privatisation & PPP and the Aseer Development Authority (Asda) are the government agencies managing the tender and project.

    The 136-kilometre Asir-Jizan highway will have three lanes in each direction and include six intersections, 57 bridges totalling 18km and 11 tunnels totalling 9km.

    The project is one of four planned highway schemes in the kingdom’s privatisation and public-private partnership pipeline.

    The route begins in Al-Farah in Asir and extends to the Red Sea through Jizan.

    The 30-year contract will follow a design, build, finance, operate and maintain model.

    READ THE AUGUST 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF

    Saudi Arabia builds for the global stage; Rising uncertainty creates fresh set of challenges in the Maghreb; Gulf banks remain robust in the face of geopolitical tensions.

    Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the August 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:

    > MARKET FOCUS: Maghreb fortunes diverge
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/18031383/main1110.jpg
    Colin Foreman
  • Adnoc Onshore extends bid deadline for field facilities project

    3 August 2026

     

    Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s onshore business (Adnoc Onshore) has given contractors extra time to prepare bids for a project to build on-plot and off-plot facilities at the Rumaitha and Shanayel fields, part of the Northeast Bab cluster of oil fields in Abu Dhabi.

    The project aims to enhance and sustain oil production at the Rumaitha and Shanayel fields at a rate of 45,000 barrels a day (b/d). It forms part of Adnoc Onshore’s contribution to parent company Adnoc Group’s broader objective of increasing oil production capacity to 5 million b/d by 2027 through its Accelerated Integrated Programme 5 (AiP5). Adnoc Group currently has a production capacity of 4.85 million b/d.

    Adnoc Onshore issued the main tender for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) works package for the Rumaitha and Shanayel on-plot and off-plot facilities project on 19 June, MEED previously reported.

    The project operator has now extended the deadline for contractors to submit technical bids to 5 August, from 2 August previously, according to sources. The prior deadline had been 30 July.

    Adnoc Onshore issued the expression of interest for the Rumaitha and Shanayel on-plot and off-plot facilities project in early December, with contractors submitting their responses later that month, MEED previously reported.

    The prequalification and ongoing tendering process is understood to result from Adnoc Onshore revising its strategy for executing EPC works on an earlier, larger project covering the Northeast Bab cluster, which comprises the Al-Nouf, Rumaitha and Shanayel fields.

    MEED reported in December that Adnoc Onshore had cancelled the engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCm) phase it launched in 2024 for the Northeast Bab on-plot and off-plot facilities project in favour of executing the scheme under a conventional EPC model.

    The operator awarded a contract to state-owned China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corporation (CPECC) to carry out EPCm services for the Northeast Bab off-plot facilities package in October 2024. However, the contract was subsequently cancelled last year.

    Separately, Adnoc Onshore received bids during the second quarter of 2025 for the EPCm tender covering the Northeast Bab on-plot facilities package, but that procurement process was also later cancelled.

    Project scope of work

    The detailed scope of work on the Rumaitha and Shanayel on-plot and off-plot facilities project is as follows:

    On-plot facilities:

    • Oil train: One new oil train with slug catcher, two-stage separation, desalting, exchangers for crude heating and stabilisation, and all associated interconnections, utilities and civil/structural works, etc.
    • Produced water treatment (PWT): New produced water treatment package to enable 100% produced water reinjection (PWRI), including chemical dosing, tanks, pumps, all associated controls and blending with aquifer water, etc.
    • Water injection system: New water injection system, including surface water injection pumps, necessary connections and controls from produced water systems, headers, chemical dosing, power and controls, etc.
    • Gas handling and export:
      • Low-pressure gas compression system
      • Medium-pressure gas compression system
      • Gas dehydration and regeneration system
      • Export gas compression system
    • Utilities and offsites: Plant air and instrument air systems, nitrogen generation system, potable water system, vapour recovery system (liquid ejector package), fuel gas import and distribution, closed and open drain systems, hot oil heater, snuffing nitrogen package, enclosed ground flare systems (high-pressure and tank flares), etc.
    • Modifications in existing systems, including, but not limited to, installation of a slug catcher at phase-I, connectivity of gas systems, water systems, existing high-pressure compressors modifications, etc
    • Electrical, instrumentation and control, and safety: Electrical systems, instrumentation and control system (ICSS, F&G system, field instrumentation, HIPPS, etc.), substation and ITR room building, fire water system, etc.
    • Overhead line (220 kV): Installation and extension of overhead lines and 220 KV GIS compound or equivalent power distribution solutions to the central processing plant and other designated areas, as necessary.

    Off-plot facilities:

    • New gas-lifted oil producers and water injectors installation with necessary piping, controls, etc. and their connections to the new or existing clusters and pipeline networks
    • New clusters with facilities such as control panels, ITR, production and test manifolds, headers, chemical injection skids, multiphase flow meters, closed drain systems, HIPPS valves, WHCPs, pig traps, ICSS/telecom extensions, etc.
    • Modifications in existing clusters, including the addition or extension of manifolds, headers, additional pipelines with pig traps, ICSS/telecom extensions, chemical injection kids, etc.
    • Gathering and injection networks: Construction of new and modified oil gathering and water injection trunklines/laterals, pigging facilities (launchers/receivers), valve stations, block valves, corrosion protection and monitoring, and all associated equipment, etc.
    • Export gas pipelines and Adnoc Gas interface: Provision for export gas pipeline and facilities from Rumaitha central processing plant to new manifold station and from NMS to Adnoc Gas, including isolation/blowdown, etc.
    • Overhead line: Installation and extension of 33kV overhead lines to clusters, etc., as required.

    The tendering exercise for the Rumaitha and Shanayel on-plot and off-plot facilities project is taking place as Adnoc Onshore continues to make progress with EPC works on another, similar project to build off-plot facilities at the Southeast cluster of oil fields in Abu Dhabi, which is also integral to Adnoc Group’s AiP5 campaign.

    The Southeast cluster comprises the Asab, Mender, Qusahwira, Sahil and Shah fields and accounts for approximately a third of Adnoc Onshore’s oil production capacity.

    MEED previously reported that Adnoc Onshore had awarded EPC works on the Southeast off-plot facilities project to state-owned China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corporation (CPECC), with the value of the contract estimated to be around $1.2bn.

    The overall scope of work on the Southeast off-plot facilities project includes tying in more than 150 wells across the area’s fields, upgrading remote and central degassing stations, laying more than 270 kilometres of flowlines, digitising wells for remote monitoring, and implementing artificial intelligence-driven telemetry technologies.

    MEED also recently reported that CPECC awarded subcontracts on the Southeast off-plot facilities project, in its capacity as the main EPC contractor.

    The off-plot facilities project is a component of the overall $2bn-$3bn South East AIP5 development, with the on-plot facilities project forming the other part of the programme.

    CPECC is also performing EPC works on the Southeast on-plot facilities project in a consortium with Greece-headquartered Archirodon. Adnoc Onshore awarded an estimated $1.5bn contract for that project to the consortium in December 2024, with EPC works scheduled for completion in 2027.

    READ THE AUGUST 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF

    Saudi Arabia builds for the global stage; Rising uncertainty creates fresh set of challenges in the Maghreb; Gulf banks remain robust in the face of geopolitical tensions.

    Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the August 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:

    > MARKET FOCUS: Maghreb fortunes diverge
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/18022436/main2622.jpg
    Indrajit Sen