The Kingdom will be able to find common ground with any American administration but a Riyadh-based expert says his country will always prefer the Republicans, especially after the trauma inflicted on them by the Obama administration that bolstered Iran, the kingdom's staunch rival.
As the battle over the United States presidency has dragged on, few countries have been unaffected by the continuing tug-of-war – and Saudi Arabia is definitely not one of them.
The prevalent mood is that Riyadh wants President Donald Trump to be re-elected and, given what he did for Saudi Arabia in his four years in office, that desire is understandable.
It was Trump who vetoed the congressional bid to halt arms sales to the Gulf country, not to mention his pressure on Iran's infamous nuclear programme which had kept many in Riyadh on their toes.
Past Trauma
Now that the Democrats are only one state away from the presidency, Washington's pro-Saudi policies are subject to change, and Ahmed Al Ibrahim, a Riyadh-based political analyst, says his country will not sit idly by watching how the US returns to President Obama's foreign policy.
Saudis could never live in peace with Obama's foreign policy. In 2011, with the eruption of the Arab Spring in Egypt, his administration supported the overthrow of the then-president, Hosni Mubarak – a staunch Saudi ally – and in doing so, gave a boost to the Muslim Brotherhood, a radical movement which is considered a terrorist…
