President Obama’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia was aimed at restoring Riyadh’s confidence that the United States would come to the monarchy’s defense in times of need. The bilateral bargain of oil for security has been the underpinning of US-Saudi relations since the meeting between President Franklin D. Roosevelt and King Ibn Saud aboard the destroyer USS Quincy in the Suez Canal in February 1945. In the decades that followed, Saudi Arabia upheld its part of the bargain by regulating its oil exports, partly on the basis of US strategic considerations. However, US conduct on certain regional issues, particularly the Iranian nuclear project and the situation in Syria, has led to a growing sense of disenchantment and the perception that the US is a superpower in retreat. There is growing suspicion in Riyadh that the US will not maintain its part of the equation and deliver security.
