By Leonardo Jacopo Maria Mazzucco

Riyadh’s mounting attention to and increasing engagement in the Red Sea basin reflect a convergence between the country’s strategic and economic interests. A secure and stable regional security order in this critical waterway is imperative to the Saudi economic diversification push, as many of its mega-projects have found a home on these littorals. With its economic interests in the region expanding in tandem with its security concerns, Saudi Arabia has been induced to craft an integrated Red Sea strategy and adopt a pro-active foreign policy to uphold the long-term profitability of its investments in the region.

Image caption: Smoke rises from a Saudi Aramco oil facility in Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah, on March 26, 2022, following a reported Yemeni rebels attack. Photo: Andrej ISAKOVIC / AFP.

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