Biden fist-bumps Saudi crown prince, then raises attacks on dissidents

Biden fist-bumps Saudi crown prince, then raises attacks on dissidents
Biden warns Saudi Crown Prince against attacks on dissidents
3 min read
16 July, 2022
US President Joe Biden and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman meet in the Saudi, on July 15, 2022.[Royal Court of Saudi Arabia / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images]

US President Joe Biden said Friday he had confronted Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over attacks on dissidents during his visit to Saudi Arabia, a country he once vowed to make a "pariah" over its human rights abuses.

Prince Mohammed drew global outrage for the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom's Istanbul consulate, an operation US intelligence services said he "approved".

Saudi officials deny Prince Mohammed's involvement and say Khashoggi's death resulted from a "rogue" operation.

"What happened to Khashoggi was outrageous," Biden said Friday night after a meeting with Prince Mohammed in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.

"I just made it clear if anything occurs like that again they will get that response and much more."

But Biden did not specify what exactly he meant by "that response", and earlier in the day he greeted Prince Mohammed, known as MBS, with a fist bump.

That moved prompted Khashoggi's fiancee to write to Biden on Twitter -- in what she framed as an imagined response from Khashoggi himself -- that "the blood of MBS's next victim is on your hands".

Despite his earlier condemnations of Saudi human rights abuses, Biden now appears ready to re-engage with the kingdom -- a key strategic US ally, a major supplier of oil and an avid buyer of weapons.

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Washington wants the world's largest crude exporter to open the floodgates to bring down soaring oil prices, which threaten Democratic chances in November mid-term elections.

Yet Biden also tried to tamp down expectations that this week's visit to the Middle East would yield immediate gains.

"I'm doing all I can to increase the supply for the United States of America," he said, adding that concrete results would not be seen "for another couple weeks".