“Saudi Arabia Is the Only Country That’s Unhappy”: Trump’s Cold Shoulder Leaves MbS Betrayed by His Trusted Ally

[Financial News] Saudi Arabia, pushed into a corner after a drone attack halted a key oil pipeline, has suffered a deep “strategic shock” from the United States’ cold indifference. Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, who had cultivated close ties with the Donald Trump administration by pouring in billions of dollars, now finds himself isolated after his partner rejected military support at a moment of existential crisis.
According to The New York Times (NYT), The Associated Press (AP), and other outlets on the 14th local time, the 1,200-kilometer East–West Crude Oil Pipeline linking oil fields in eastern Saudi Arabia with Yanbu Port on the western Red Sea coast has remained shut for several days after being targeted by drones launched by an Iran-aligned armed group in Iraq on the 11th. The key security infrastructure, which bypasses the Strait of Hormuz, was damaged, and restoring major damaged pumping stations is expected to take at least three to five weeks.
NYT assessed that Saudi Arabia was facing its “worst-case scenario.” After Houthi rebels in Yemen recently seized a strategic position in the Red Sea to the south, an attack on the pipeline by an armed group in Iraq to the north has rapidly tightened Iran’s encirclement of Saudi Arabia through an all-out proxy war.

What hurts most is the stance of the United States, once considered a trusted ally. Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, MbS, recently asked President Donald Trump to launch direct military strikes against the Houthi rebels and others, but the request was flatly rejected. Concerned about escalation, President Trump instead told reporters during a visit to Ireland, “The Houthi rebels don’t want to fight us. There’s only one country that’s unhappy—Saudi Arabia.” He made clear that the United States would not become directly involved.
Saudi Arabia’s leadership, which had spent vast amounts of capital and political resources showcasing close U.S.-Saudi ties, is reportedly deeply frustrated. A former U.S. diplomat described the mood as one of bewilderment at Washington’s cold response, saying, “Saudi Arabia made such an enormous investment in its security partnership with the United States precisely to prepare for a desperate moment like this.”
With a military solution blocked, Saudi Arabia is ultimately being forced into the dilemma of finding unwanted diplomatic compromises with neighboring countries, including its uneasy adversary Iran. Experts predicted that Saudi Arabia would struggle to find an independent way forward for the time being, saying, “Saudi Arabia is angry, but it will not be able to distance itself publicly from the United States.”
[email protected] Park Ji-hyun Reporter