Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): With President Donald Trump's loss of the presidential race to his Democratic rival Joe Biden, most countries in the world breathed a sigh of relief. However, only a few countries saw themselves in real trouble, or at least felt a big loss, given their heavy reliance on Trump to support them and their agenda.

Of course, the most prominent countries that felt the loss were Israel, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as these states in particular received what they had not dreamt of over a span of four years, absolute and unlimited support. Although Israel's support was for a reason, the US support for Saudi Arabia and the UAE was for only one reason, money.

These two countries have paid billions of dollars in investments, deals, etc., in exchange for unlimited support for their agendas, which were similar to Israel's agenda.

The most prominent beneficiaries of Trump's departure from our region are certainly Qatar, Turkey, which has suffered economic difficulties and a collapse in their national currency, and Iran, which has been stifled by sanctions that have reached an unprecedented, sometimes immoral level (Iran has been left unable to combat the Coronavirus efficiently due to lack of equipment and its inability to buy more due to sanctions, as well as sanctions on the Iranian manufacturer of the Coronavirus vaccine).

But how have these countries dealt with the new variables?

Iran was awaiting Joe Biden's inauguration (January 20, 2021), and will ignore all provocations and the torrent of US sanctions that may come to an end. It raised its uranium enrichment level as a pressure move that is expected to commit the Biden administration to return to the nuclear deal, while at the same time it declared that it is ready to return to work pursuant to the nuclear deal, and negotiate on other issues (in reference to negotiating on its missile program).

However, Saudi Arabia did not wait for a long time, and started to take steps that would reduce tension with the new administration. As for reconciliation with Qatar, it seems that Saudi Arabia is the one which demanded Trump's mediation, as the Washington Post stated in a recent report. This information seems to be true, especially with the continued Bahraini and Emirati media attacks on reconciliation, and their criticism of Saudi Arabia in some cases, which confirms that Manama and Abu Dhabi were forced to reconcile later.

Another Saudi step to reduce tensions with the new administration was the commuted sentence handed down to Loujain Al-Hathloul, which means that she will be released in less than two months.

These two steps seem to be the beginning of Saudi adjustment to the Biden administration, and may be followed by other steps, but what steps has Bahrain taken so far?

Although Khalifa bin Salman's death was a good opportunity to take reform steps, including the release of prisoners through royal pardons or alternative sanctions, none have happened so far, on the contrary an "electronic army" was created..

With the arrival of any new Administration to the White House, the United States will step back for three to six months, during which it will build its cabinet team, prepare the new budget, and develop its work program for the next four years...Its foreign policies will only appear in 6 months. Bahrain has a few months to adapt to the new administration rather than suddenly be forced to change its policies and take sudden steps, as was the case with Qatar and the Gulf reconciliation.

Arabic Version