‘He was’: Biden tells Saudi prince who was responsible for Khashoggi’s murder

Jeddah: Joe Biden began a visit to Saudi Arabia on Friday by giving Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman a fist bump and shaking hands with King Salman as energy and security interests prompted the US president and his aides to reverse course and embrace the Gulf oil giant.

Biden once pledged to make the kingdom a pariah on the global stage over the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi but is looking to reset the relationship between the two countries, also aware that Saudi Arabia has been strengthening ties with Russia and China.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, right, greets US President Joe Biden with a fist bump in Jeddah.Credit: Saudi Royal Palace via AP

At the start of Biden’s Middle East trip which began in Israel, officials said he would avoid close contacts, such as shaking hands, as a precaution against COVID-19. But the president ended up engaging in hand-shaking during the first leg of the tour.

After meeting the king, Biden and his team met the prince and Saudi ministers.

Several US reporters then shouted questions about Khashoggi at the prince. “Will you apologise to his family?” one shouted. Mohammed, with the Saudi energy minister seated beside him, did not respond and appeared to smile as the reporters were led from the room.

Biden rejected the notion that he was ignoring the kingdom’s human rights record on his trip.

“I said, very straightforwardly, for an American president to be silent on an issue of human rights is inconsistent with who we are and who I am,” Biden said. “I’ll always stand up for our values.”

US intelligence concluded the prince directly approved the killing of Khashoggi, a US-based Saudi insider-turned-critic, inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul four years ago.

Biden said Mohammed claimed he was “not personally responsible” for the death. “I indicated I thought he was,” the president said he replied.

The visit is being closely watched for body language and rhetoric.

In the Red Sea port city of Jeddah on Saturday, Biden is due to meet heads of state from six Arab Gulf countries, plus Egypt, Jordan and Iraq for a regional summit.

Energy prices — elevated since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — were expected to be high on the agenda. But presidential aides tempered expectations that he would leave with a deal for regional producers to immediately boost supply. More oil would help to bring down the high cost of petrol and ease the highest US inflation in four decades.

“I suspect you won’t see that for another couple of weeks,” Biden told reporters.

US President Joe Biden is greeted by officials as he arrives at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.Credit: AP

“We believe any further action taken to ensure that there is sufficient energy to protect the health of the global economy, it will be done in the context of OPEC+,” US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said.

The OPEC+ group, which includes Russia, meets next on August 3.

Biden would also encourage peace and press for a more integrated Middle East during the trip. Topics include strengthening a truce in Yemen, “balance” in energy markets and technological co-operation in 5G and 6G phone networks.

Ahead of the visit, Saudi Arabia said it would open its airspace to all air carriers, paving the way for more overflights to and from Israel, in what Biden described as a historic and important step towards building a more stable Middle East.

Biden flew from Israel directly to Jeddah, a step the White House says represents a symbol of warming Israeli-Saudi ties. Two years ago, Riyadh gave a tacit nod for the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to normalise relations with Israel.

The US-brokered deals known as the Abraham Accords established a new axis in the region, where Gulf states share Israel’s concerns about Iran’s nuclear and missiles programs and proxy network.

Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shiite Muslim Iran have for years vied for regional influence, but launched direct talks last year in an effort to contain tensions.

Reuters, AP

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