Why Arabs Do Not Trust the Biden Administration

by Khaled Abu Toameh 

• Prominent Arab political analysts, commentators and journalists are continuing to express fear about Iran's "expansionist" schemes in the Arab countries, especially Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. They say that they are worried that a return to the JCPOA would further embolden the mullahs in Tehran and the Iranian-backed terrorist groups.
• To many, the hesitation of the Biden administration is incomprehensible. White House and the National Security Council are apparently open to redesignating the Houthis as a "foreign terrorist organization" while the State Department supports targeting specific Houthi leaders with sanctions. The question is why? One could do both.
• Another question is: Has the Yemen crisis become a political issue rather than a humanitarian one?
• Moreover, why are aid organizations insisting on aid coming through Hodeidah port when there are six ports... plus aerial deliveries via Marib?
• Isn't this a "humanitarian" political position in favor of the terrorists, the Houthis?
• Judging from the Houthis' recent heightened aggression, many in the Arab world are asking: why are the Houthis not immediately being designated as a "foreign terrorist organization" again?
• The Arabs are also warning that Biden's decision last year to delist the Houthis as a "foreign terrorist organization" has only encouraged the militia to pursue its aggression against the Yemeni people -- the very people about whom the Biden administration is claiming to have "humanitarian" concerns – as well as the neighboring countries.
• [T]he failure of the Biden administration to designate the Houthi militia as a terrorist organization poses "a threat to regional peace and security and harms international peace and security." — Dr. Amal Al-Haddabi, Emirati political analyst, Al-Ain, February 8, 2022.
• "The Biden administration has forgotten that militias are an arm of external forces that use them to achieve their own agendas, and they are not concerned with the interests of the Yemeni people...." — Dr. Amal Al-Haddabi, Al-Ain, February 8, 2022.
• "This move [reclassifying the Houthis as a terrorist organization] will not harm efforts for reaching a peaceful settlement in Yemen. On the contrary, it will be a decisive and firm message from the international community that it will not accept this terrorist behavior from the Houthis." — Dr. Amal Al-Haddabi, Al-Ain, February 8, 2022.
• "Tehran views the negotiations only through a unilateral perspective -- to lift the economic sanctions imposed on it without making any serious concessions." — Professor Mohammed Mufti, Saudi communist, Okaz, February 10, 2022.
• "Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has come to consider himself the president of Lebanon, Syria and other Arab countries, and this is because he relies on 90,000 [members of] forces affiliated with Tehran." — Former Jordanian Minister of Culture Saleh Al-Kallab, Asharq Al-Awsat, February 10, 2022.
• If and when the Biden administration signs a new deal with Iran, the sense of betrayal in the Arab world is extremely likely to broaden.
• The US may then find out that it is the Americans who have been delisted as untrustworthy friends and allies by the people of the Middle East.

As the Biden administration and other world powers continue to negotiate with the Iranians about reviving the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), there is growing concern in the Arab world about the destructive actions and policies of Iran and its proxies, especially the Houthi militia in Yemen. Pictured: Houthi forces in Yemen's capital Sanaa on April 8, 2021. (Photo by Mohammed Huwais/AFP via Getty Images)

As the Biden administration and other world powers continue to negotiate with the Iranians about reviving the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), there is growing concern in the Arab world about the destructive actions and policies of Iran and its proxies, especially the Houthi militia in Yemen.

Prominent Arab political analysts, commentators and journalists are continuing to express fear about Iran's "expansionist" schemes in the Arab countries, especially Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. They say they are worried that a return to the JCPOA would further embolden the mullahs in Tehran and the Iranian-backed terrorist groups.

The Arabs are saying that they cannot understand the Biden administration's reluctance to re-designate the Houthi militia as a terrorist organization, particularly after the recent drone and missile attacks on Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

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