Biden ends trip with US-Saudi relations on the mend but few other wins
- President Biden’s fist bump with Prince Mohammed at the royal palace in Jeddah will serve as the defining image of the trip, which saw a warming of relations
- Biden failed to secure an immediate pledge by Saudi to boost oil output, or public support for US efforts for a regional security axis that would include Israel
President Joe Biden and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman took a step to mending their troubled relationship with a fist bump, but the US leader left the kingdom on Saturday with few big successes and doubts as to whether the visit was worth it.
Biden’s four-day trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia, his first to the Middle East as president, aimed to reset ties with the Gulf Arab oil giant, demonstrate US commitment to the region and counter the rising influence of Iran, Russia and China.
But thorny optics overshadowed the Saudi leg as Biden avoided appearing to embrace a crown prince implicated by US intelligence in the brutal 2018 murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a charge Saudi authorities deny.
Biden said he confronted Prince Mohammed, known as MbS, over the killing. MbS remained unbowed, telling Biden the United States had also made mistakes.
Though Biden left the Middle East without securing an immediate pledge by Saudi Arabia to boost oil output or public support for US efforts for a regional security axis that would include Israel, the trip was not a total washout.
Biden’s fist bump with Prince Mohammed in front of the royal palace in Jeddah will serve as the defining image of the trip, but it was months in the making. White House officials were divided over rewarding MbS with a visit and agonised over how it would look.
