Biden finds oil thicker than blood as he sets aside Saudi prince snub amid Ukraine war

Joe Biden’s short-lived boycott of Mohammed bin Salman over the gruesome killing of Jamal Khashoggi has come to an end with a state visit to Saudi Arabia

Washington needs a regional ally and has few other choices, analysts say – even if the CIA would have preferred a different Saudi prince in charge

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Not so long ago US President Joe Biden promised to make Saudi Arabia a ‘pariah’ state. Now he’s seeking to ‘recalibrate’ ties. Photo: AFP

Published: 8:00am, 16 Jul 2022Updated: 8:17am, 16 Jul 2022

As Air Force One jetted towards the Middle East on Wednesday, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan laid to rest any lingering doubts about whether his boss would meet one-on-one with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

President Joe Biden did, indeed, hold talks on Friday evening with the man he had vowed, while campaigning for the Democratic Party’s nomination in 2019, to “hold accountable” for the gruesome 2018 killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and noted critic of the crown prince.

The two men bumped fists as the crown prince greeted the US president upon his arrival at the Al Salam Palace in Jeddah for their meeting.

In February last year, within a month of his inauguration, Biden ordered the publication of the US intelligence community’s previously classified investigation of the Khashoggi case.

A demonstrator dressed as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with blood on his hands protests against the killing of Jamal Khashoggi in Washington in 2018. Photo: AFP

The report, which relied heavily on information gathered by the CIA, said with a medium to high degree of confidence that the Saudi crown prince – commonly referred to by his initials MBS – had approved an operation to “capture or kill” Khashoggi, who was a columnist for The Washington Post.

The White House subsequently said it wanted to “recalibrate” relations with Riyadh. Biden would not deal with MBS, but with his semi-retired father King Salman bin Abdulaziz, it said.