Speaking to reporters Friday afternoon, Biden said he also discussed human rights “and the need for political reform” during the talks. “As I always do, I made it clear that the issue [of human rights] it’s vital to me and to the United States,” Biden said. “Regarding the Khashoggi murder, I put that at the top of the meeting, making it clear what I thought about it at the time and when I think about it now.” He added that a US president cannot be “silent on a human rights issue.” Biden was criticized earlier in the day for greeting the Saudi crown prince – who US intelligence has concluded was responsible for the assassination of Khashoggi at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 – with a fist bump when he arrived for the meetings. As a presidential candidate in 2019, Biden vowed to treat the kingdom as a “pariah” over the killing, and his administration initially said it would only deal with his immediate counterpart, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz. Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz receives US President Joe Biden at Al Salman Palace upon his arrival in Jeddah [Bandar Algaloud/Courtesy of Saudi Royal Court via Reuters] But Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia comes amid efforts to reset Washington’s relationship with Riyadh and as the world grapples with rising energy costs linked to the war in Ukraine. Saudi Arabia is one of the largest oil producers in the world. Saudi Arabia has denied that top officials, including the crown prince, popularly known as MBS, were involved in Khashoggi’s murder. Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the US, Reema bint Bandar Al Saud, writing in US magazine Politico on Thursday, reiterated the kingdom’s “disgust” at the killing, describing it as a horrific atrocity. He said, however, that he could not define US-Saudi ties. Fred Ryan, editor of the Washington Post, where Khashoggi worked at the time of his death, slammed Biden’s fistfight with the crown prince as a “disgrace.” “He displayed a level of familiarity and comfort that offered MBS the unapologetic redemption he desperately sought,” Ryan said in a statement. Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett said Biden’s comments to reporters were meant to “do damage control.” “He was cleaning up what was clearly a public relations disaster.”
Energy concerns
The Saudis gave Biden a low-key welcome at Jeddah airport, with none of the ceremony that accompanied his stop this week in Israel. Biden welcomed the ruler of Mecca, Prince Khalid bin Faisal, and Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the US. Before Biden’s arrival, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Air Force One that Biden would “clearly and substantively” outline his vision for Washington’s involvement in the Middle East during his meetings in Saudi Arabia . “He intends to ensure that there is no vacuum in the Middle East for China and Russia to fill, that American leadership and American engagement will be a hallmark of US policy in that region, and that we intend to play a critical role in that.” strategically vital area on an ongoing basis,” Sullivan said. Biden held talks with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman at the royal palace in Jeddah, and then the US president and his team held a working meeting with MBS and Saudi ministers. Biden attends meeting with Saudi officials, including crown prince, in Jeddah [Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters] Experts said energy interests prompted Biden to travel to the kingdom. The US is eager to see Saudi Arabia and its partners in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) pump more oil to help reduce high gasoline costs and lower US inflation, the highest in 40 years. Biden will meet with a broader set of Arab leaders at a meeting in Jeddah on Saturday. However, a US official told Reuters news agency ahead of the visit that Washington did not expect Riyadh to boost oil production immediately and was looking forward to the outcome of the next OPEC+ meeting on August 3. Biden noted during a brief press conference Friday afternoon that oil prices have fallen ahead of his trip to the Middle East, saying the potential impact of his visit to Saudi Arabia on the energy market won’t be felt “for another two weeks”. Spare capacity within OPEC is being depleted, with most producers pumping at maximum capacity. It is unclear how much additional supply Saudi Arabia could bring to the market and how quickly. OPEC+ decided last month to raise production targets by 648,000 barrels per day (bpd) in August, ending record production cuts it imposed at the height of the pandemic to deal with collapsing demand.
“Important Business”
Meanwhile, the US president also listed a list of deals he said US and Saudi officials had formalized in Friday’s meetings, calling them “major undertakings”. He cited deals to allow Israeli flights into Saudi airspace and transfer two Red Sea islands from Egyptian to Saudi rule, as well as infrastructure and clean energy projects. “Thanks to months of steady diplomacy between my administration and Saudi Arabia, it’s finally a reality,” Biden said in an earlier statement about the airspace deal. This agreement follows years of de facto rapprochement between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Two years ago, Riyadh did not protest when the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain moved to normalize relations with Israel as part of a series of US-brokered deals known as the Abraham Accords. The Saudi ambassador to Washington said US-Saudi efforts to ensure peace and security should focus on strengthening cooperation and “strengthening a rules-based system” to counter the “vision of chaos that promotes Iran”. During his visit to Israel, Biden and acting Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid signed a joint pledge to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Tehran, which criticized the US-Israeli statement, denies it is seeking such weapons.
