Saudi Arabia, US negotiating 'history-making agreement': envoy

Saudi Arabia and the United States are negotiating landmark agreements including strategic partnerships, economic ties and military agreements. 

“While we came very close and are very close on very important elements of this agreement, it is important that we finalise all of it together, and with that, we would have a history-making agreement between the US and Saudi,” US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Michael Ratney told Asharq Al-Awsat in an interview. 

The ambassador, however, did not specify the timeframe for finalising the agreement but he relayed that “we wish we could do it tomorrow.”

“We are in a complicated region and there are a lot of complexities to the agreement itself, but we will do it as quickly as possible,” Ratney stated. 

In May this year, the White House Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had several meetings regarding a deal that was almost “finalised” between the two countries, the Saudi Press Agency reported back then. 

The US has also reiterated its decision to continue weapons sales to Saudi Arabia after the Arab country worked to prevent war in Yemen. 

“Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in a diplomatic effort to stop the war in Yemen and maintain a calm and mitigation of civilian harm if there were a military conflict again,” Ratney said.

“The circumstances have changed; the partnership has grown and with that naturally comes changes in our own approach.”

The ambassador also discussed the US’s efforts to maintain security and prosperity in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East amid Israel’s offence on Palestinians in Gaza since October 7th, last year as well as a rise in Houthi attacks in the Red Sea. 

Ratney stated that the US is aiming to keep its navy and military in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea to counter any attacks. 

“We do this because freedom of navigation in this part of the world is profoundly important and our commitment to the security of Saudi Arabia and this entire region is paramount,” Ratney said.

As per Ratney, the countries share the same goal of bringing the two-state solution to life enabling the Palestinians to live peacefully on their land alongside Israel. 

“We fundamentally believe that Palestinian statehood needs to come through a political process, through negotiations between the parties, not from through any other means.”

“In the meantime, the deep priority is to stop the violence in Gaza, to stop the misery of the people of Gaza, to move forward with our efforts toward a ceasefire, to release Israeli hostages, and to end this conflict to find ways to deliver much-needed humanitarian assistance in Gaza,” he added.

Ratney also discussed the strengthening of economic ties between Saudi Arabia and the US with the former’s economy creating opportunities for the latter to invest and transforming their economic development. 

“We are now working with the Saudi government and Saudi companies in areas that we would not have imagined in the past, for example, space exploration for commercial purposes,” the US ambassador said. 

“The kingdom has huge ambitions in the commercial space, and we as companies want to be there with them,” Ratney added.