Sharing a New York Times story on social media platform X that the State Department had ordered American diplomats in Saudi Arabia to leave the country, Lindsey Graham wrote that the US embassy in Riyadh was being evacuated because of continued attacks on Saudi Arabia by Iran.
He wrote, “In my understanding, Saudi Arabia is refusing to
use its formidable military capabilities to dismantle the brutal and terrorist
Iranian regime that has terrorized the region and killed seven American citizens.”
The US senator asked, “Why should the US enter into a
defense agreement with a country that is not willing to participate in a fight
of mutual interest?”
Lindsey Graham criticized Saudi Arabia, saying, “American
citizens are being killed and the US is spending billions of dollars to
dismantle this terrorist Iranian regime that is a threat to the region. But in
the meantime, Saudi Arabia is apparently issuing some statements and taking
limited steps behind the scenes... but is refraining from engaging in military
action to end Iran’s terrorist dominance.”
Saudi Arabia considers the United States its primary defense
partner. In November 2025, the two countries signed a historic Strategic
Defense Agreement (SDA), which solidifies a long-term, 80-year security
partnership. The agreement was made to strengthen the defense balance in the
region and reduce US costs and includes modern weapons (F-35 fighter jets,
tanks), artificial intelligence technology, civil nuclear cooperation and
increased security responsibilities.
The US senator added that ‘I hope the Gulf Cooperation
Council countries will play a more active role in this fight because this
conflict is getting very close to them. But at the same time, he asked, ‘If you
are still not ready to use your military, when will you be ready?’
The US senator expressed hope that this situation will
change soon ... And also warned that ‘if not, there will be consequences.’
It should be noted that the Saudi Ministry of Defense has
confirmed that Iran has launched multiple missile and drone attacks on its
territory since February 28, 2026, including attacks on Riyadh and the Eastern
Province.
In response to the senator’s statement, X linked to an
article from Saudi Arabia’s official news agency, Arab News, which stated that
“Saudi Arabia defends its territory in the event of attacks but does not engage
in aggressive actions abroad nor is it launching a full-scale war.”
The note explained that Saudi Arabia had no role in starting
the US-Israeli conflict and that “the claim that ‘Americans are dying for Saudi
Arabia’ is not true, because the US started this war at Netanyahu’s behest.”
Remember, Iranian President Masoud Peshmerga apologized to
Gulf neighbors on Saturday and said that Tehran would stop the attacks unless
attacks on Iran began from their soil. However, Iranian Armed Forces spokesman
Abolfazl Shekarchi said that Iran would refrain from targeting neighboring
countries only if their territory was not used to attack Iran.
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