Biden says he raised the issue of Khashoggi's killing with bin Salman and confirms progress in the security and energy files
US President Joe Biden arrived Friday evening in Jeddah, on his first visit to Saudi Arabia since his arrival at the White House, at the conclusion of a Middle East tour.
Biden indicated that he raised the issue of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
He stressed that he had held a "good series of meetings" with the Saudi leadership, which resulted in significant progress on security and energy issues.
US President Joe Biden confirmed that he raised the issue of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
He added that he had a "good series of meetings" with the Saudi leadership, which resulted in significant progress on security and economic issues, but human rights were also a major topic of discussion.
"I made it clear that the issue is very important to me and to the United States," Biden told reporters at a news conference.
Biden added that he expects "to see additional steps from Saudi Arabia in the energy field in the coming weeks."
Biden also stressed that Washington would not leave a "vacuum in the Middle East to be filled by Russia and China."
Earlier, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman received US President Joe Biden at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah, in a meeting that ends the US presidential boycott of the young prince over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Video footage broadcast by official media showed Prince Mohammed, the de facto ruler of the country, welcoming Biden at one of the entrances to the royal palace in the western coastal city, before each knocked his fists with the other's.
How did the Saudi crown prince shake hands with the US president?
US President Joe Biden landed in Saudi Arabia at the end of a Middle East tour that included Israel and the Palestinian territories.
And local Saudi media reported that the governor of the Mecca region, which includes the city of Jeddah, was received by the American president, along with Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, and a delegation that included the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Rima bint Bandar Al Saud.
Saudi state media released images of the US presidential plane at Jeddah airport after a two-hour flight.
Biden is the first US president to travel directly from Israel to an Arab country with which he has no relationship.
After taking office in early 2021, the Biden administration published the results of US intelligence investigations that Prince Mohammed bin Salman "approved" an operation against Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, whose horrific murder in his country's consulate in Istanbul in 2018 sparked global outrage.
Reviving Relationships
Biden has signaled a willingness to re-engage with a country that has been a key strategic ally of the United States for decades, a major supplier of oil and an avid arms buyer.
Washington is seeking to persuade the world's largest crude oil exporter to open the door to increasing oil production to reduce high fuel prices amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which threatens Democrats' chances in the November election.
Speculation about normalization
Biden's visit to the Middle East raises speculation about a possible rapprochement with Saudi Arabia after four Arab countries normalized their relations with Israel during the past two years, and after indications of attempts to bring about a positive change in Saudi public opinion on this issue.
Before his arrival in the Kingdom, Riyadh announced the opening of its airspace to "all air carriers", in a clear goodwill gesture towards Israel. Biden was quick to praise the decision, calling it "historic."
Israeli Transport Minister Merav Michaeli welcomed the Saudi decision, saying, "Israeli flights will be allowed to fly in Saudi airspace, and this is an important step by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (...) that will allow strengthening relations between Israel and other countries in the Middle East and will significantly reduce flight times and lower prices. ".
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid also thanked Biden for "long, intense and secret diplomatic negotiations between Saudi Arabia and the United States" to reach this announcement.
But despite the signs of rapprochement, King Salman has always repeated in his speeches that the kingdom can normalize relations with Israel only when a Palestinian state is established with occupied East Jerusalem as its capital.
Biden is scheduled to meet on Saturday with the leaders of the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries, as well as the leaders of Egypt, Jordan and Iraq, to discuss volatile oil prices and Washington's role in the region.