Biden uses killing to reset Saudi relations
President Joe Biden will warn Saudi Arabia’s ageing King Salman of his intent to reset US relations with the kingdom as he prepares to unveil a possibly explosive report on the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Biden will speak to the king soon and does not expect his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 35, the kingdom’s day-to-day ruler, to be on the call, the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, said yesterday.
The normally routine matter of protocol represented by Biden’s first phone call to the kingdom as president has taken on significance in the light of his pledge, outlined in his election campaign and by aides since he took office, to upend US policy towards the Middle East. A CIA report due to be declassified and published this week on Khashoggi’s murder is expected to suggest that it was ordered by the crown prince.
President Donald Trump was a strong supporter of the Saudi monarchy, choosing the kingdom for his first overseas visit as president and hosting the crown prince, widely known by his initials, MBS, at the White House in March 2018. Biden, 78, had not changed his view that the killing made the kingdom a ‘‘pariah’’, Psaki said.
In the Democratic primary campaign Biden vowed to make Saudi Arabia ‘‘pay the price’’ by ending weapons sales because of its war in Yemen ‘‘and make them in fact the pariah that they are’’ for Khashoggi’s murder.
Asked if officials named as responsible in the CIA report would still be welcome in the US or face criminal prosecution, Psaki said: ‘‘I am not going to get ahead of the policy process or the release of the report.’’
She repeated a snub to the crown prince issued last week when she said that as part of attempts to ‘‘recalibrate’’ relations, Biden would deal directly with King Salman, 85, and not MBS, as Trump had. The prince, who is also defence minister, ‘‘communicated with the secretary of defence, and that’s the appropriate line of communication. The president will speak with the king at the appropriate time. It will be soon,’’ she said.
Trump encouraged his son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, to develop a close relationship with MBS. That ended with the murder of Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist turned dissident, in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. US officials believe the operation was overseen by the prince’s right-hand man, Saud al-Qahtani.
Among the new president’s priorities is ending US support for Saudi Arabia’s role in the civil war in Yemen, where US and British weapons have been used to bomb rebel-held areas with the loss of thousands of civilian lives.
The immediate reaction of the rebels, an Iran-backed faction known as the Houthis, has been to launch a big offensive on three fronts, which threatens to overrun Yemen’s main oilbearing region, a crushing and possibly fatal blow to the Saudi-backed government. Hundreds of fighters have died.
Biden’s shift in policy looks certain to draw Saudi Arabia closer to Israel, which Riyadh does not officially recognise but with which it has enjoyed close behind-the-scenes relations in recent years. The two countries are said to be preparing a joint response to the prospect of Biden returning the US to the Iran nuclear deal, which both disliked.
Officials stress that Biden’s intent is not to end US support for Saudi Arabia outright but to put pressure on it to improve its internal record.
At the same time Biden’s senior foreign policy team want to see a Middle East where influence is ‘‘balanced’’ between Saudi Arabia and Iran, enabling him to focus on the rise of China.
‘‘There is no effort by the Biden administration to undermine MBS’s path to the throne, and all indications are they will work with him,’’ said Andreas Krieg, an analyst of Gulf politics at King’s College London. ‘‘However, by putting pressure to bring about a change of behaviour on his part, the hope in Washington is that this can yield some positive results, with a cornered MBS desperate to mend ties with the US to build his reign.’’