By Jarrett Renshaw
(Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden will meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as a part of a trip to the Middle East in mid-July, a senior official said, as the administration moves to shore up support for a key ally despite concerns about human rights.
Biden is expected to travel to the Middle East from July 13 to July 16, starting with a stop in Israel and the West Bank before landing in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where he is expected to meet with nearly a dozen regional leaders, including the crown prince, as part of a summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council and others, the official said.
The official did not provide specific details on the meeting with bin Salman.
Earlier this month, the White House said Biden still felt bin Salman was a “pariah” for what U.S. intelligence says was his role in the killing and dismembering of a political opponent, Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, in Turkey in 2018.
The senior official said if Biden “determines it’s in his interest to engage with any particular leader, and if such an engagement can deliver results, then he will do so.”
The official pointed to the crown prince’s role in helping broker an extension of an U.N.-brokered truce between Yemen’s warring parties as an example of the need to engage with Saudi Arabia as way to help bring peace and security to the region.
The visit to oil-rich Saudi Arabia comes as Biden is trying to find ways to lower gasoline prices in the United States. The group of oil-producing nations called OPEC+, led by Saudi Arabia, recently agreed to boost oil production to help bring down prices.
The diplomacy and the president’s trip signify an effort to repair the rupture in relations stemming from the murder of Khashoggi. American intelligence concluded that Prince Mohammed, the de facto leader of the kingdom, ordered the hit team that killed and dismembered Khashoggi at a consulate in Istanbul.
After taking office, Biden released the intelligence report on Khashoggi’s murder as a statement of accountability and imposed sanctions on some of those involved in the killing. But he took no action against Prince Mohammed, drawing criticism.
“Human rights is always a part of our conversations. No doubt it will be part of the meetings that the President has in the region, both in the stop in Jeddah and also, of course, in the stop in Israel,” the official said.
During the stop in Israel, Biden will emphasize the U.S. commitment to the country, which includes billions in military support.
He will also hold a virtual summit with the leaders of Israel, India, and the United Arab Emirates as a way to demonstrate that regional partnerships extend beyond the Middle East, the official said.
While in the West Bank, Biden plans to meet with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and other leaders to reaffirm his commitment to a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine, the official said.
He will end the trip in Saudi Arabia where he will meet close to a dozen leaders from Kuwait, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, plus Iraq, Jordan and Egypt.
(Reporting By Jarrett Renshaw; editing by Richard Pullin)
