In 1945 Franklin Roosevelt, on his way home from the Yalta summit with Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin, met King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud on a US warship midway up the Suez Canal. Having settled the disposition of postwar Europe, FDR laid a foundation stone of the postwar Middle East: the US would underwrite the security and integrity of the kingdom Ibn Saud had only recently united by the sword, and the Saudis would guarantee the free flow of oil westwards at reasonable prices. That deal now looks as though it may be falling apart.
1945年，富兰克林•罗斯福(Franklin Roosevelt)前往雅尔塔与温斯顿•邱吉尔(Winston Churchill)和约瑟夫•斯大林(Joseph Stalin)举行峰会。回国途中，他在停泊在苏伊士运河的一艘美国军舰上会见了阿卜杜勒•阿齐兹•伊本•沙特(Abdul Aziz ibn Saud)国王。已经解决战后欧洲安排问题的罗斯福，为战后的中东格局奠定了一块基石：美国将帮助伊本•沙特刚刚用武力统一起来的王国，保障它的安全和领土完整，而沙特方面将保证以合理的价格源源不断向西方供应石油。但现在，这个协议看上去可能将土崩瓦解。