The Democratic president had vowed to treat the crown prince as a “pariah” because of his role in the assassination of journalist Jamal Kasogi, a Washington Post columnist, at the Saudi consulate in Turkey in 2018.
U.S. President Joe Biden will travel to Saudi Arabia and Israel next month, and the White House plans to formally announce the visits later this week, a source in Washington told Reuters on Sunday.
Mr Biden’s trip to Riyadh may include a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to the same source.
The Democratic president had vowed to treat the crown prince as a “pariah” because of his role in the assassination of journalist Jamal Kasogi, a Washington Post columnist, at the Saudi consulate in Turkey in 2018.
A US intelligence report released by Joe Biden has confirmed that the prince “approved” the killing of journalist Jamal Kasogi by a group of executors at the consulate in Istanbul. The Wahhabi kingdom denies that Mohammed bin Salman was involved in the case.
The US president, who boasts of starring in the struggle of democracies against authoritarian regimes, had said he would “readjust” relations with the Sunni kingdom, with an emphasis on human rights.
But a new variable has been added to the diplomatic equation, the spike in fuel prices, in part because of Russia’s war against Ukraine, which is causing American public despair in an election year.
Mr Biden’s government wants Riyadh to increase oil production, hoping it will reduce gas station prices.
