According to media reports, US President Joe Biden wants to travel to Saudi Arabia at the end of the month. As the New York Times reported on Thursday, Biden is expected to speak with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and political leaders from Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates in the capital Riyadh. The logistical details and schedule are yet to be confirmed, but the basic decision has already been made.
The visit will add to a trip already planned for the end of June to Israel, the G7 summit in Germany and the NATO summit in Spain. The paper highlighted Saudi Arabia’s oil wealth at a time of soaring energy prices and Biden’s efforts to isolate Russia internationally because of the war in Ukraine.
The Washington Post also reported on the trip, citing government circles. She stressed that the “private conversations” with the mighty prince would come after several “discreet” missions by his Middle East adviser Brett McGurk and his energy envoy Amos Hochstein.
“The president looks forward to the opportunity to speak with leaders in the Middle East,” White House spokeswoman Karin Jean-Pierre said, without explicitly confirming the trip.
Before his election, Biden said Saudi Arabia should be treated as a “rogue” state for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. After he took office, the government released an intelligence report that the Saudi crown prince and the ruler did indeed approve of Khashoggi’s assassination. Riyadh rejects this and asserts that the perpetrators in Saudi Arabia acted on their own.
The Biden administration had spoken of a “recalibration” of relations with the Washington ally. Biden’s environment said he did not want to speak directly with the crown prince. The United States wanted to make enforcing human rights and ending the war in neighboring Yemen more of an issue.
The decision to travel comes as the international community has secured a two-month extension of the fragile ceasefire in Yemen. Biden praised the “courageous leadership” of Saudi Arabia on Thursday, which leads a military coalition in the neighboring country. The OPEC+ oil cartel, led by Saudi Arabia, also recently responded to a request from the West and decided to expand production.
Khashoggi was assassinated in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018. He had an appointment there to prepare for the wedding to his fiancee, a Turkish citizen. According to official information from Turkey and the US, a command of 15 men from Saudi Arabia was waiting at the representation, murdered him, dismembered his body and made the remains disappear.