US Vice President Mike Pence heads to the Middle East next week in an effort to quell regional tensions over the Donald Trump administration’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. But Pence will also face rising turmoil between Saudi Arabia and Jordan, two longstanding American allies.

Last month, Jordan’s King Abdullah II was forced to shoot down rumors that he had arrested two of his brothers because of their alleged communications with Riyadh. The crisis came amid rising Jordanian distress over Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s policies, including his reported support for revoking Jordan’s custodianship over Islamic sites in Jerusalem as part of a potential US-backed peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.

Abdullah has insisted that the departure of Prince Faisal bin Hussein and Prince Ali bin Hussein were part of long-scheduled retirements from Jordan’s army — an effort to bring younger blood into the force, not the defusing of any Saudi plot. But Pence’s visit has raised questions about where the United States stands amid the rivalry.

“I’m intrigued by the fact that Pence is going to be in Jordan, which I suspect is a recognition that the Jordanians were feeling a bit unloved recently and it would feel that it is a friend of the US and it should not be treated callously,” said Bruce Riedel, the director of the intelligence program at the Brookings Institution and a 30-year CIA veteran. “The [Trump] administration certainly understands that the Saudis have been reckless in their treatment of Lebanon, Qatar and Jordan. The more sane parts of the administration don’t see it as being in our national interest to have our allies devouring each other.”