Saudi Arabia’s Prince Turki al-Faisal Al-Saud, the former intelligence chief for Saudi Arabia, has called on the United States to show a renewed commitment to Saudi Arabia’s security and the U.S.-Saudi partnership in comments to CNBC published today.
One of the ways the United States could show that commitment is ensuring American defense equipment in Saudi Arabia is not removed, Prince Turki Al-Faisal told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble.
“I think we need to be reassured about American commitment,” the prince, Saudi Arabia’s former intelligence chief, told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble last month in comments published today.
“That looks like, for example, not withdrawing Patriot missiles from Saudi Arabia at a time when Saudi Arabia is the victim of missile attacks and drone attacks — not just from Yemen, but from Iran,” he said.
As the CNBC story notes, The U.S. boosted its military presence in Saudi Arabia in 2019, deploying two Patriot missile artillery batteries following attacks on the country’s oil facilities. In June this year, multiple media outlets reported that the Pentagon decided to draw down air defense assets from the Middle East, including Patriot missile batteries.
Pulling Patriot missiles from the kingdom is “not indicative of America’s declared intention to help Saudi Arabia defend itself against outside enemies,” Al-Faisal said, adding that he hopes the U.S. will give assurances of its commitment to deploy “whatever is needed” to help. Al-Faisal indicated that the Kingdom would prefer U.S. security assurances but would partner with other countries if necessary to ensure its own security.
Recently, Russia and Saudi Arabia have boosted their cooperation in the security sector.
The articulate Al-Faisal also has served as Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States and as a professor at Georgetown University.
