Alwaght- The Yemeni oil tanker Safer that has been moored in the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait since 2015 by Saudi Arabia has even drawn protest of Jordan.
Recently, Jordan maritime chief has warned that the stranded supertanker is a "ticking bomb" for the danger of oil leak. The leakage will pose environmental risks for the coastal countries and their economic and tourist interests, Mohammad Salman further warned.
Salman held that in the area where Safir is moored, the "higher" water of the ships that enter the Port of Aqaba is replaced, so the oil will either "stick to the body of the ships or is carried by them to inside the port."
Jordan's criticism of indecision regarding the ship becomes important, as Saudi Arabia is to blame for the situation. The Arab kingdom prevented the tanker from docking in the Yemeni port of Hudaydah to unload. In fact, by criticizing the situation of the tanker, Jordan has also criticized Saudi Arabia's actions against Yemen.
Under these circumstances, it seems that relations between Jordan and Saudi Arabia are facing a series of challenges these days, which perhaps are due to a series of developments that have taken place in the relations between the two countries over the past few years.
Jordan-Saudi increasing distance
A look at the recent regional developments show that Jordan is distancing from Saudi Arabia and this is mainly caused by the issues that happened to their relationship over the last year.
Saudi role in failed Jordan coup
In the recent attempted coup in Jordan, news resources named some figures who are in direct connection with Saudi Arabia. They are Bassem Awadullah, a former envoy to Saudi Arabia, and the king's half brother Prince Hamza. According to the Jordanian resources, the detained people had strong ties to Riyadh, and even hold Saudi passports, too.
Awadullah is also the former planning minister, having close relations with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He is reportedly one of the main planners of the ambitious Saudi Neom city project that requires a cost of $500 to construct. It is rumored that Awadallah also works in Arab National Bank of Saudi Arabia, in addition to holding close relations to prominent Saudi businesspeople. He also has connections with the UAE, and in 2008 was a member of the administration council of a university in Dubai. He also was active at the "Davos of the desert" conference, an economic conference held in 2019, and news reports repeatedly showed him sitting by bin Salman.
The same links between Awadullah and the Saudi leaders were enough to prove Riyadh's traces in the recent failed coup against King Abdullah II of Jordan. An informed source later revealed that the King of Jordan sent a strong message to bin Salman for his "role" in the power grab plot.
Jordan-Saudi stances on the "deal of the century" collide
In a show of defiance to the Israeli regime, Jordan made a stance contrary to the deal of the century unveiled by the previous US administration and covertly advocated by Riyadh rulers. Upon the unveiling, King Abdullah II expressed his strong opposition to the deal that was aimed at recognizing the Israeli occupation and stripping the Palestinian refugees of their right to return home, though some analysts argued that the objection was not purely pro-Palestinian but also was aimed at royal interests. The Americans and Israelis had foreseen Jordan as an alternative homeland for the Palestinians, exactly the same thing the king opposed for the fear of home protests.
This opposition also drew Israeli anger at him. Israeli media even reported that the former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in advance aware of the coup against the king.
Open opposition to the Trump initiative was on collision course with Saudi Arabia whose leaders with their silence implicitly backed it. Some observers argue that the Saudi role in the attempted coup was driven by Amman's decline to join the deal of the century that helped its failure.
Difference over custodianship of Al-Quds (Jerusalem) holy sites
Following the signing of the UAE-Bahrain normalization agreement with the Israeli regime, Prince Mohammed resumed his efforts to oust Jordan as the key decision-maker of Al-Quds Waqf Council. He tried to realize his aim with assistance from the Israeli government.
"Mohammed bin Salman tries to take control of the sanctities [of Al-Quds], said Tareq al-Khouri, a Jordanian member of parliament, adding: "Jordan mandate of the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque and other sanctities is a historical matter and abandoning it or replacing Jordan with Saudi Arabia is impossible."
The comments by the Jordanian parliamentarian came as the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom on June 1 reported "secret talks" between Riyadh and Tel Aviv on Al-Aqsa Mosque custodianship.
Following the resumption of Saudi efforts to remove Jordan from the Al-Aqsa Mosque Islamic Awqaf Council in line with Israeli plans, the Jordanian ministry of foreign affairs and refugees called the efforts "fruitless" without naming a specific country or a person. It added that according to the international laws and historical documents, the Awqaf Council is the only body that has the exclusive right for all Al-Aqsa arrangements and can control the entry to and exit from it. The ministry went on that Al-Aqsa Mosque, with a total area of 144 hectares, including all its walls and gates, is a holy place of worship for Muslims, and stressed that Jordan, based on Hashemite rule over Islamic and Christian shrines in Al-Quds, will continue its efforts to protect and preserve the mosque and the rights of all Muslims.
In July 2018, reports said that Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, were planning to open offices near the holy mosque in rivalry against Jordan.
Taking revenge on Saudi Arabia in Yemen and Syria
The wide-ranging differences that have intensified over the past few years between Jordan and Saudi Arabia have led Amman to take a critical look at Riyadh in the regional developments. An example of the anti-Saudi stances is the Jordan criticism of stranded oil tanker not unloaded because of the Saudi blockade on Yemen. Also, recently, the Yemeni foreign minister at a meeting with the UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths warned about the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and emphasized the need for political solution to the devastating crisis.
To Saudi Arabia's frustration, Jordan shrugged off the efforts meant to mar its relations with the Syrian government. Amman was among those came against American sanctions against Damascus. In June last year, Omar Razzaz, then Jordan prime minister, announced that the trade ties with Syria were "at their highest level" despite the American Caesar Act of 2019 that sanctions any person or government having trade ties with Syrian government. Reopening the border crossing with Syria is another move Amman leaders have made to boost ties with neighboring Damascus. These postures are at stark contrast to the hostile stances taken against Syria by the Saudis.
