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

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".

-We just heard from Jamal Khashoggi’s wife who said:After this visit the blood of MBS’s next victim is on your hands. What do you say to Mrs Khashoggi?
-I’m sorry she feels that way.I was straightforward back then. I was straightforward today. I didn’t come here to meet with C.P pic.twitter.com/CsPCjHbIu6

— Hatice Cengiz / خديجة (@mercan_resifi) July 15, 2022

A Saudi official tells @AlArabiya confirms reports that Biden brought up Khashoggi’s case, saying that MBS told Biden:“What did the US do about the [Israeli] killing of Shireen Abu Aqla” https://t.co/9UXxgOfznf

— Hassan I. Hassan (@hxhassan) July 15, 2022

Today @POTUS stood just miles away from where my father was tortured. Instead of speaking up for my dad & other loved ones who suffer under MBS, Biden fist-bumped their oppressor and blew a major chance to advocate for freedom #DemocracyVsHypocrisy pic.twitter.com/IE4n9CLayh

— د. عبدالله العودة (@aalodah) July 15, 2022

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.

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".