The New Saudi Strategy, With F. Gregory Gause III

The President’s Inbox

Council on Foreign Relations

Politics, News:politics, News

4.4 • 734 Ratings

🗓️ 11 February 2026

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

F. Gregory Gause III, a leading scholar on Saudi Arabia and an associate fellow at the Middle East Institute, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the evolution of U.S.-Saudi relations as Saudi Arabia navigates its role in a Middle East with a more assertive Israel, a weaker Iran, and a less predictable United States. For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/presidents-inbox/the-new-saudi-strategy Opinions expressed on The President’s Inbox are solely those of the host or our guests, not of CFR, which takes no institutional positions on matters of policy.

Transcript

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0:00.0	A new Middle East is emerging.
0:02.0	A dictatorship has fallen.
0:04.0	Lightning fast rebel offensive ending 50 years of authoritarian rule in Syria.
0:09.0	New partnerships are forming.
0:10.0	A historic deal brokered by the US to normalize relations between the UAE and Israel.
0:15.0	Citizens are rising up.
0:17.0	Thousands of Iranians have been protesting as a dire economic crisis takes a heavy toll on their
0:22.5	daily livelihood. And new players are arriving on the scene. Saudi is now posing up to China to strengthen
0:28.5	bilateral and economic ties. These changes have consequences for the United States, and particularly
0:34.2	for its 80-year relationship with Saudi Arabia. The Arabian monarch goes aboard the president's cruiser
0:39.2	centered on the potential American development of the oil concession granted by the king.
0:43.8	What began as a grand bargain of Saudi oil for American security
0:47.8	has evolved into a complex network of sometimes contradictory interests
0:52.2	as Saudi Arabia's crime print seeks to claim a more
0:55.2	influential role for the kingdom in world affairs.
0:57.8	Saudi Arabia's crown prince accused of ordering the murder of a Washington Post contributor.
1:02.5	The International Criminal Court to open an investigation into war crimes and crimes against
1:07.1	humanity committed by the Saudi-led coalition.
1:10.0	How are U.S.-S.-Saudy relations adapting to
1:12.0	these changes? Can Washington still count on Saudi Arabia as a critical ally in one of the world's
1:17.2	most volatile regions? From the Council on Foreign Relations, welcome to the president's inbox.
1:24.0	I'm Jim Lindsay. Today I'm joined by F. Gregory Gauze, one of the world's leading
	...

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