Trump Sets Off Middle East Crisis With One Phone Call

Donald Trump ignited a standoff between the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia with a phone call. 

Trump contacted UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed  last November regarding what he said was a request from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to impose sanctions on the UAE. Trump said Salman made the request earlier that month, citing the UAE’s support for the Rapid Support Forces, a mercenary group fighting in Sudan’s civil war. 

After the call, The New York Times reports, tensions between the UAE and Saudi Arabia boiled over. Senior UAE officials felt betrayed by the Saudis, and by the next month, things had gotten so bad that Saudi Arabia bombed a shipment from the UAE to Yemen. 

According to the Saudis, that wasn’t the request at all—they wanted additional sanctions on the RSF to cut off its outside support, not sanctions on the UAE directly. They hoped that targeting the RSF in this manner would cause the UAE to back down and that the war in Sudan would end sooner. An official in the Trump administration also told the Times that MBS never asked Trump to sanction the UAE. 

But the damage was done, and now two key U.S. allies are not getting along with each other. The UAE’s leader is convinced that MBS asked Trump for direct sanctions against his country. According to Emirati officials, Trump told Zayed that his friends the Saudis were out to get him, but that the U.S. stands behind him. 

At best, Trump misunderstood Salman’s request, and at worst, he bungled a very sensitive matter. In either case, two powerful Arab countries are at odds, and it’s not only playing out in Sudan but also in Yemen, where a shipment was bombed after a UAE-backed faction advanced close to the Saudi border. The Saudis accused the UAE of sending weapons to Yemen, which they denied, and then subsequently ended their support for the faction. 

The Saudis and UAE each have extensive business ties with Trump, his family, and other administration officials. One wonders if and how Trump plans to settle this rift. He said on February 16, “We can get it settled very easily. “That’s an easy one to settle.” Will he manage not to mess things up again?