Joe Biden confirms ‘possibility’ of trip to Saudi Arabia

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US President Joe Biden confirmed on Friday he was considering a trip to Saudi Arabia, which would be a stark reversal after he called for the kingdom to be made a pariah state.
The New York Times and other US media, quoting anonymous sources, have reported that Mr Biden would go ahead with the long-rumoured Saudi stop during an upcoming overseas tour.

The reported decision came shortly after Saudi Arabia addressed two of Mr Biden’s priorities by agreeing to a production hike in oil — which could help tame rocketing US inflation — and helping extend a truce in war-battered Yemen.

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“I’m not sure whether I’m going,” Mr Biden said when asked about reports of an imminent visit.
“There is a possibility that I would be going to meet with both the Israelis and some Arab countries at the time.”

“Saudi Arabia would be included in that if I did go, but I have no direct plans at the moment,” Mr Biden told reporters.

CNN said that Mr Biden would meet Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, 36-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who was accused by US intelligence of ordering the 2018 murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

A man wearing red headgear and traditional robe talks in front of two mikes.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, speaks during the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday, 14 December, 2021. Source: AAP / AP

The trip would reportedly happen around the time Mr Biden travels to a NATO summit in Spain and the Group of Seven summit in Germany later this month.

He is also widely expected to travel to Israel where, as in Saudi Arabia, he is sure to face pointed questions about slow-moving US diplomacy with the two countries’ rival, Iran.

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While running for president, Mr Biden called for Saudi leaders to be treated as “the pariah that they are” after the ultraconservative kingdom’s chummy relationship with his predecessor Donald Trump.
Mr Trump had largely shielded Saudi Arabia from consequences after Mr Khashoggi, a US resident who wrote critically about Crown Prince Mohammed in The Washington Post, was lured into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul where he was strangled and dismembered.
Mr Trump’s son-in-law and top aide, Jared Kushner, had developed a close bond with the prince known by his initials “MBS,” reportedly conversing with him over WhatsApp chats.

Shortly after taking office, Mr Biden released the intelligence report that said MBS authorized Mr Khashoggi’s killing and his administration imposed visa restrictions on dozens of Saudis accused of threatening dissidents.

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Mr Biden also scaled back support from a Saudi-led air campaign in Yemen amid revulsion over civilian casualties.
A close partner of the United States since the World War Two era, Saudi Arabia has repeatedly managed to woo administrations in Washington that initially sought a greater distance.
US officials were pleasantly surprised on Thursday as major oil producers led by Saudi Arabia grouped under OPEC+ agreed to a larger than expected hike in oil production.
A rise in supply could help bring down skyrocketing prices at the pump, seen as a major contributor to sagging poll numbers for Biden whose Democratic Party faces difficult congressional elections in November.
Officials in Washington said that Saudi Arabia was also supportive of diplomacy that led Thursday to the extension of a fragile two-month truce between Yemen’s Riyadh-backed government and Iranian-affiliated Huthi rebels.

“Saudi Arabia demonstrated courageous leadership by taking initiatives early on to endorse and implement terms of the UN-led truce,” Mr Biden said in a statement.



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