The military strikes President Trump ordered against Iran are a stark reminder of a decades-long geopolitical reality: the stability of the Persian Gulf region is anchored by the resolve of America and the men and women of its military.
By moving aggressively to neutralize a regime bent on provoking regional instability and destroying Saudi Arabia, its chief rival in the Muslim world, the United States has also demonstrated its commitment to an American-Saudi friendship that has flourished under President Trump.
Indeed, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly engaged in multiple phone calls with President Trump prior to the strikes, warning that Iran would become "more formidable and perilous" if the U.S. failed to neutralize Iranian threats.
This brings us to a painful subject – and a major test of loyalty – involving the Kingdom’s failure to account for an unresolved tragedy that took place in Pensacola six years ago.
In December 2019, a Saudi aviation trainee named Mohammed Saeed Al-Shamrani murdered three of our sailors and injured thirteen others in a shooting rampage at Naval Air Station Pensacola. Investigators later found that the Kingdom sent him to the U.S. to receive flight lessons despite the fact that he had active Al-Qaeda ties—links that a proper and thorough background check would have almost certainly flagged.
In the aftermath of the attack, King Salman of Saudi Arabia expressed deep regret, stating that "the Saudi people are greatly angered" by the shooting. But that anger has yet to translate into justice.
Since 2021, the survivors have struggled against a legal onslaught financed by the Kingdom. The Kingdom has hired a battalion of lawyers to avoid the consequences of this catastrophic vetting failure by mounting a defense based on the international legal concept of sovereign immunity.
But a federal appeals court recently provided a small measure of hope to the victims and their families. The court reinstated parts of the victims’ lawsuit accusing the Kingdom of gross negligence for the failure to properly vet the Saudi aviation trainee.
Now, the Saudis should take the opportunity to move past the maneuvering and toward the moral obligations of a proper ally.
President Trump has worked hard to buttress the U.S.-Saudi relationship, from the historic Abraham Accords to massive economic cooperation. In the immediate wake of the shootings, the President put his own political reputation on the line by promising the American people that the Saudi royal family would "be involved in taking care of the families and loved ones."
In that context, the Saudis must do the right thing and settle with the grieving families of Pensacola. The Kingdom cannot continue to enjoy the benefits of its friendship with the U.S.—including the protection provided by the American military—while simultaneously litigating against the families of our service members.
To do so reeks of a dismissive arrogance that keeps the Kingdom locked in a cycle of regression. Such behavior recalls a darker era, tying Saudi Arabia to the reputation of a shadowy autocracy instead of the enlightened global leader it claims to be. Leaving this tragedy unresolved prevents it from ever truly joining the ranks of modern, civil-minded nations.
One group refusing to let this issue fade is the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), which has emerged as a voice in the fight to ensure the Saudis make restitution. As Peter Flaherty and his team at the NLPC recently observed: “For a country that wants to be a leader in the 21st-century community of nations, it is a glaring contradiction to continue to finance a legal battle against American families who suffered so much at the hands of an individual who should have never stepped on American soil.”
For Saudi Arabia, the transition into the modern world is currently being tested. The Saudis have had six years to do the right thing while enjoying the unmatched benefits of their friendship with America. It simply must stop fighting these families and finally fulfill the promise made to President Trump: to take care of the loved ones of the fallen.
Editor's Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.
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