During the Ukraine crisis, Saudi and Emirati leaders declined calls with Biden.

PAROMITA DAS

The monarchies of the Persian Gulf have signaled that they will not help lower oil prices unless Washington supports them in Yemen and elsewhere.

According to Middle East and US officials, the White House sought unsuccessfully to organize calls between President Biden and the de facto leaders of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as the US was seeking to rally international support for Ukraine and contain a surge in oil prices.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and UAE Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan both rebuffed US efforts to speak with Mr. Biden in recent weeks, according to officials, as Saudi and Emirati officials have become more public in their condemnation of American policy in recent weeks.

“There was some expectation of a phone call, but it did not happen,” a US official said of the planned meeting between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed and Mr. Biden. “It was part of the process of turning on the spigot [of Saudi oil].”

On Feb. 9, Mr. Biden spoke with Prince Mohammed’s 86-year-old father, King Salman, and the two men reaffirmed their nations’ long-standing friendship. The call between Mr. Biden and Sheikh Mohammed has been rescheduled, according to the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to Saudi officials, the Saudis have indicated that their relationship with Washington has deteriorated under the Biden administration, and they want more support for their intervention in Yemen’s civil war, assistance with their own civilian nuclear programme as Iran’s moves forward, and legal immunity for Prince Mohammed in the United States. The crown prince is facing various lawsuits in the United States, including one for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

According to authorities, the Emiratis share Saudi concerns about the US’s muted response to recent missile strikes in Yemen by Iran-backed Houthi insurgents against the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Both countries are also anxious about the resumption of the Iran nuclear deal, which does not address their other security concerns and has recently entered the final phases of discussions.

The White House has moved to restore ties with two important Middle Eastern countries that it needs on its side as oil prices surpass $130 per barrel for the first time in over 14 years.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are the only two major oil producers with the ability to pump millions of additional barrels of oil—capacity that, if deployed, might help calm the crude market at a time when American gasoline prices are at an all-time high.

The National Security Council’s Middle East coordinator, Brett McGurk, and the State Department’s energy envoy, Amos Hochstein, both traveled to Riyadh late last month to try to heal bridges with Saudi officials. Mr.McGurk also visited with Sheikh Mohammed in Abu Dhabi in an effort to allay Emirati concerns over the US response to the Houthi attacks.

The call with Sheikh Mohammed, scheduled for early February, was supposed to focus on how the two countries could oppose Houthi attacks from Yemen.

According to one US official, the Biden administration has worked hard to bolster Saudi and Emirati missile defenses, and that America will do more in the coming months to assist the two Gulf nations in protecting themselves. The official stated that while it may not be everything the two countries desire, the US is attempting to meet their security concerns.

However, the Saudis and Emiratis have refused to pump extra oil, claiming that they are adhering to a production plan agreed upon by their organization, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, and a group of other producers led by Russia. The energy alliance with Russia, one of the world’s largest oil producers, has strengthened OPEC’s position while simultaneously pushing the Saudis and Emiratis closer to Moscow.

After declining to speak with Mr. Biden, both Prince Mohammed and Sheikh Mohammed got phone conversations from Russian President Vladimir Putin last week. They both later spoke with Ukraine’s president, and a Saudi official said the US had asked Prince Mohammed to mediate the situation, which he stated the kingdom is doing.