Joe Biden told Middle East leaders on Saturday that the US was invested in the region and not about to cede influence to Russia, China and Iran, which have all built a presence in the region over recent years.
“We will not walk away and leave a vacuum to be filled by China, Russia, or Iran. And we’ll seek to build on this moment with active, principled American leadership,” the US president said. “The United States is not going anywhere.”
Biden, who was on his first tour of the region, partly aimed at persuading Gulf states to pump more oil, was speaking at a summit in the Saudi city of Jeddah where heads of the Gulf states, Egypt and Jordan had gathered.