Biden’s Mideast Trip
The Saudi-owned Al Arabiya news network, citing an unnamed Saudi source, reported that Prince Mohammed responded to Biden’s mention of Khashoggi by saying that attempts to impose a set of values can backfire. He also said the U.S. had committed mistakes at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, where detainees were tortured, and pressed Biden on the killing of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh during a recent Israeli raid on the West Bank city of Jenin.
The atmosphere between the two eventually became more relaxed, the U.S. official said, as they spoke about energy security, expanding highspeed internet access in the Middle East and other issues. The regional summit in Jeddah and Biden’s visit provided Prince Mohammed with the opportunity to showcase his country’s heavyweight role in the Middle East, and his position at the helm of the world’s largest oil exporter. He hinted that the kingdom could pump more oil than it currently does, something Biden wants to see when existing production quotas among OPEC+ member countries, which include Russia, expire in September.
“I’m doing all I can to increase the supply for the United States of America, which I expect to happen,” Biden said Friday. “The Saudis share that urgency, and based on our discussions today, I expect we’ll see further steps in the coming weeks.”
He also tried to draw Arab nations onto his side over the invasion of Ukraine by releasing satellite imagery indicating that Russian officials visited Iran in June and July to see weapons-capable drones that it could acquire.
The disclosure appeared aimed at drawing a connection between the war in Europe and Arab leaders’ own concerns about Iran.
So far, none of the countries represented at the summit has moved in lockstep with the U.S. to sanction Russia, a foreign policy priority for the Biden administration. If anything, the UAE has emerged as a sort of financial haven for Russian billionaires and their multimillion-dollar yachts. Egypt remains open to Russian tourists.
Meantime, there are sharp divisions on regional foreign policy among the heads of state who attended the summit.
For example, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE are trying to isolate and squeeze Iran over its regional reach and proxies. Oman and Qatar have solid diplomatic ties with Iran and have acted as intermediaries for talks between Washington and Tehran.
But before ending his speech at the summit, Biden expressed hopes for a new era of cooperation.
“This is a table full of problem solvers,” he said. “There’s a lot of good we can do if we do it together.”