WASHINGTON – President Biden has pledged that as a candidate Making Saudi Arabia a “pariah” In response to the assassination of a prominent dissident, he decided to travel to Riyadh this month to rebuild relations with the oil-rich kingdom at a time when he seeks to lower gas prices at home and isolate Russia abroad.
While the logistics and timing are still in the works, Biden had planned to add the visit to a previously scheduled trip to Europe and Israel, said US administration officials, who asked not to be identified because the trip has not been officially announced. During his stop in Riyadh, he will meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who was likewise He is responsible for the assassinationAs well as leaders of other Arab countries, including Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates.
The visit represents the victory of realpolitik over moral outrage, according to foreign policy experts. In the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Biden found it necessary to court other energy producers to replace oil from Moscow and stabilize global markets. And the group of oil producing countries called OPEC Plus, led by Saudi Arabia, announced on Thursday that it would do so Production increased modestly in July and AugustUS officials expect them to do more in the fall.
The Biden administration has already strengthened its cooperation with Saudi Arabia on a variety of issues in recent months, particularly in seeking to end the bloody eight-year-old Saudi-led war in neighboring Yemen. A two-month truce On Thursday, he extended and Mr. Biden praised Saudi leaders for their role. “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has shown courageous leadership by taking early initiatives to endorse and implement the terms of the UN-led armistice,” he said in a statement.
Diplomacy and the President’s trip represent an attempt to mend the rift in relations caused by the brutal 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a well-known critic of the Saudi government and a columnist for The Washington Post. US intelligence concluded that Prince Mohammed, the kingdom’s de facto leader, ordered the strike team that killed and dismembered Mr. Khashoggi at a consulate in Istanbul.
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