Saudi Arabia and the United States have a long-standing strategic partnership, but the oil and security driven relationship has been strained by several crises. Here's a look at the complicated relationship
File photo: US President Donald Trump (left 2) and his wife Melania Trump are welcomed by Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (right 2) during their arrival at the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on May 20, 2017. Image:
Bandar Algaloud / Saudi Royal Council / Handout/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Saudi Arabia and the United States have a long-standing strategic partnership, but the oil and security driven relationship has been strained by several crises.
The biggest such crisis in recent years has been the gruesome murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi—an event that casts a shadow over US President Joe Biden's looming visit to the kingdom.
On February 14, 1945, the two countries' partnership is sealed during a historic meeting between king Abdel Aziz bin Saud and President Franklin D Roosevelt on board the cruiser USS Quincy in the Suez Canal.
The agreement sees the US guarantee military protection for the kingdom in return for privileged access to oil reserves, which were discovered in enormous quantities in the 1930s.
In October 1973, 10 days into the Israeli-Arab war, Riyadh and fellow Arab members of the OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) cartel use oil as a diplomatic weapon.