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ven as Saudi Arabia denounces United States President Donald Trump’s controversial move to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the Saudis are expected to maintain their close relations with their Western ally because of the kingdom’s power struggle with archrival Iran.

Hamdan Basyar, a Middle East expert from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said on Monday that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with his ambitious 2030 vision to step away from economic dependency on oil, would need good cooperation with the US.

“[Saudi Arabia] is very pragmatic now; their priority is economics and they care less about what is happening in Jerusalem,” Hamdan said.

On Wednesday, Trump said the US government would formally recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel despite an ongoing territorial dispute over the holy city with Palestinians. In the historic speech, he also said that he would order the US embassy to Israel to be relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The move was met by protests in cities in many Muslim-majority countries and condemnation from leaders around the world. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has strongly denounced Trump’s move, urging the US president to cancel his plan to relocate the Israeli capital.

Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi is currently in Jordan to discuss the issue with her Jordanian and Palestinian counterparts.

Earlier the Saudi royal court said that “The kingdom expresses great regret” over Trump’s decision. However, Reuters reported that its four sources inside the Palestinian government, who refused to be named, said that Riyadh had been working discreetly to push Palestine to support the US peace plan.

Hamdan said the recently declining prices of oil and Saudi Arabia’s sluggish economy played significant roles in the government decision.

“The decision is in line with the royal prince’s vision to rebuild Saudi Arabia’s economy. Saudi Arabia needs to maintain ties if it really wants to pivot away from oil,” he said.

Previously, Mohammed bin Salman emphasized that he would return the country to “moderate Islam” and he asked for support from the international community to transform the kingdom into an open society.

Nostalgiawan Wahyudi, another researcher from LIPI, said that the Middle East countries have displayed dissatisfaction with Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy for some time now. One of the most unpopular was when Saudi Arabia placed itself at the forefront of the opposition against Arab Spring.

“Resistance came not only from Iran, but also from Qatar, Turkey, Kuwait and other countries in the Middle East,” he said.

He went on to say that troubles also came from home, pointing at the terrorism committed by the Islamic State (IS) group, which has clashed with Saudi police and launched attacks against Saudi territory.

In 2016 the violent group was strongly suspected to have been behind suicide bombings in three locations in Saudi Arabia. One bomb exploded in the parking lot of Al-Masjid an-Nabawi Mosque, which is considered a symbol of the House of Saud royal family. The government had arrested 19 people, including 12 Saudi nationals, following the attacks.

“Saudi Arabia is losing ground in the Middle East so they should reconsider their foreign policy with other countries in the region because on the other side Iran is getting a more influential role,” he said.