US President Joe Biden is visiting the country and is anticipated to meet with key authorities. Previously it was stated that he would regard Saudi Arabia as a “pariah” in light of the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
On Friday, Biden flew directly from Israel to the Red Sea coast city of Jeddah, making history as the first US president to do so from the country that does not recognize it. His predecessor Donald Trump traveled the route backward in 2017.
Energy supplies, human rights, and security cooperation are on the agenda of the trip, which is intended to re-establish US relations with the kingdom.
During his discussions in Saudi Arabia, Biden would outline “clearly and substantively” his vision for Washington’s involvement in the Middle East, according to US national security advisor Jake Sullivan, who spoke to reporters on board Air Force One on Friday.
“He’s intent on ensuring that there is not a vacuum in the Middle East for China and Russia to fill, that American leadership and American engagement will be a feature of US policy in this region, and that we intend to play a critical role in this strategically vital region on an ongoing basis,” Sullivan spoke.
According to the White House, the president and his team will meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS, and Saudi ministers at the palace after Biden and King Salman bin Abdulaziz hold a bilateral discussion there.
The president and his advisors decided against isolating the country because doing so would compromise energy and security interests as the kingdom is the top oil exporter in the world and a regional superpower that has been enhancing ties with China and Russia.
Before the trip, a US official told Reuters that Washington did not anticipate Riyadh to instantly increase oil production and that it was waiting to see how the next OPEC+ meeting on August 3 turned out.
During the meeting, body language and speech will be extensively scrutinized. The 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi was explicitly sanctioned by MBS, according to US intelligence, despite the crown prince’s denials. White House aides have declined to confirm that either Biden will likely shake hands with the prince, who is the de facto ruler of the kingdom or not.
Biden planned to bring up human rights issues with Saudi Arabian leaders, he did not specify if he would bring up the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. In order to “engage effectively diplomatically,” Biden does not foreshadow the topics he would bring up with foreign leaders, according to Sullivan, as he spoke to reporters on Friday.
Reema bint Bandar Al Saud, the Saudi ambassador to the US, reaffirmed the kingdom’s “abhorrence” of the death in an article published in the US magazine Politico, calling it a horrifying murder that cannot be used to define US-Saudi ties.
