The Saudis have agreed to open King Fahd Air Base in Taif, in Western Saudi Arabia, to the Americans, as reported by the Middle East Eye, summing up multiple US and Western officials familiar with the matter. The US is interested in the Taif airbase because the Prince Sultan airbase, much closer to the Persian Gulf, keeps getting pounded by Iranian missiles and drones.
Taif is also close to Jeddah, the Red Sea port that has become a critical logistics hub since Iran effectively took control of the Strait of Hormuz. Current and former US officials told MEE that if the Trump administration is preparing for a longer war on Iran, Jeddah may be critical for sustaining US armed forces. Thousands of US ground troops are en route to the region from East Asia.
Saudi Arabia’s decision to expand base access, current and former officials say, underscores a shift in how the kingdom and some other Gulf states are responding to the US-Israeli war on Iran. “The attitude in Riyadh has shifted towards supporting the US war as a way to punish Iran for strikes,” a Western official in the Gulf told MEE. Various Western officials told MEE that Trump and the Saudi crown prince have been holding regular phone calls for the last three weeks.
The UAE has also told the US that it is geared up for a long war, putting no pressure on Washington to wrap up the conflict soon. A U.S. official told MEE that, in a phone call earlier this month, UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed told his counterpart, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, that the UAE is prepared for the war to last up to nine months.
