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The US and Bahrain have signed a security and economic agreement, demonstrating renewed engagement between Washington and its Gulf allies and potentially setting the stage for similar deals with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The agreement, finalized by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Bahrain’s Prime Minister, Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, on Wednesday, aims to enhance military and intelligence coordination, according to the White House.
Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, is already a non-NATO ally of Washington and is seen as a stronghold against Iranian influence.
“There is a strong interest in the Gulf region for explicit security agreements with the US,” said Jon Alterman, Middle East Program Director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “The Bahrain agreement may not completely meet the expectations of neighboring countries, but it will serve as a key reference point for their negotiations.”
The Gulf states are seeking a level of protection similar to NATO’s commitment to mutual defense under Article 5. However, the US Senate is reluctant to make binding commitments to engage in another war in the Middle East, according to Alterman.
In 2020, Bahrain and the UAE normalized relations with Israel. The US hopes to secure a similar response from Saudi Arabia by offering security guarantees and economic incentives.
Last week, the US and EU supported the establishment of a ship and rail corridor connecting India to the Mediterranean Sea through the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Israel.
Efforts to establish another comprehensive partnership between the US and the UAE have yet to yield a breakthrough. The UAE was displeased with what it saw as a tepid US response to missile strikes by Yemeni rebels on its capital last year. Additionally, Abu Dhabi’s technological cooperation with China has raised concerns in Washington.
Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, despite their concerns about the Iranian threat, are also working on improving bilateral ties with Tehran in the pursuit of de-escalation.
The agreement comes at a time when the Gulf kingdom is grappling with internal divisions. Ahead of the crown prince’s visit to Washington, hundreds of opposition prisoners halted their protests against conditions in Bahrain’s prisons after the government agreed to implement changes.
Since the Arab Spring unrest in 2011, when protests led by majority Shia Muslims were violently suppressed by the Sunni-led government supported by Gulf leaders, Bahrain has struggled to achieve social harmony. These leaders feared the spread of democracy movements and Iranian encroachment in the Arabian Peninsula.
The White House stated that promoting human rights was an “important topic” discussed with the crown prince.
The agreement also encompasses economic cooperation, building on the 2006 US-Bahrain free trade agreement, which has contributed to a more than threefold increase in trade, reaching $3 billion annually.
It aims to foster the development of “trusted” digital technologies to support secure telecommunications networks, representing the first binding agreement of its kind, according to the US.
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