Biden will travel to Saudi Arabia and end his “pariah” status.

WASHINGTON-The President Joe Biden, who as a candidate promised to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” in response to the assassination of a prominent dissident, decided to travel to its capital Riyadh this month to rebuild relations with the oil-rich kingdom. at a time when he seeks to lower gasoline prices at home and isolate Russia abroad.

While the timing was still up for debate, Biden had planned to add the visit to a previously scheduled trip to Europe and Israel, administration officials said, who requested anonymity because the trip was not formally announced.

During his stop in Riyadh, the president will meet the crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, who was held responsible for dismembering the dissident, Washington Post columnist jamal khashoggi.

Biden will also meet with leaders from other Arab nations, including Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates.

The visit represents the triumph of realpolitik on moral outrage, according to foreign policy experts.

In the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Biden found it necessary to woo other energy producers to replace Moscow’s oil and stabilize world markets.

The group of oil producing nations called OPEC +led by Saudi Arabia, announced Thursday that it will slightly increase production in July and August, and US officials expect the group to do more in the fall, but it may not be enough to lower crude prices ahead of the mid-term elections. of November.

The Biden administration had already stepped up cooperation with Saudi Arabia on a number of issues even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine disrupted global energy markets, particularly as it seeks to end the Saudi-led war in neighboring Yementhat it’s been eight years.

A two-month truce was extended on Thursday, with Biden commending Saudi leaders for their role.

“Saudi Arabia has demonstrated courageous leadership by taking initiatives from the outset to support and implement the terms of the UN-led truce,” said a statement.

Diplomacy and the president’s trip indicate an effort to mend the rift in relations resulting from Khashoggi’s death in 2018.

US intelligence concluded that Crown Prince Mohammed, the de facto leader of the kingdom, ordered to the strike team that killed and dismembered Khashoggi in a consulate in Istanbul.

Although the former president Donald Trump remained close to the Saudis, Biden promised to take a different path if elected to the White House.

He said he would “make the Saudis pay the price, and in effect make them the pariahs that they are,” saying there was “very little social redemption value in the current Saudi government.”

After taking office, Biden released the intelligence report on Khashoggi’s murder as a statement of responsibility and sanctions imposed some of those involved in the murder.

but he did not take no measure against Crown Prince Mohammed, putting a limit on how willing he was to break with Riyadh.

The administration claims it ended the Trump team’s blank check policy for Riyadh, but was unwilling to end the policy. friendship of 8 decades of the United States with Saudi Arabia, which has been an important ally on a variety of fronts.

“Saudi Arabia is a key partner for us in addressing extremism in the region, in addressing the challenges posed by Iran, and I look forward to continuing the process of building relations between Israel and its neighbors both. neighbors than distant through the continuation, expansion of the Abraham Accords, “said the Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, at an event marking the 100th anniversary of Foreign Affairs magazine.

He said human rights remain important, but “we’re dealing with it all our interestsit’s in that relationship.

The Abraham Accords, sealed under Trump’s auspices, established normal diplomatic relations between Israel and several Arab states, including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

But Saudi Arabia remains the elusive target, which would do much to validate Israel’s status in the region if it formally recognized the Jewish state.

Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister was recently optimistic about eventually joining the agreements, but said progress must first be made in resolving Israel’s long-standing conflict with the Palestinians.

“We always anticipate that there will be full normalization with Israel, and I said earlier that full normalization between us and Israel, between the region and Israel will bring immense benefits,” he said last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“We won’t be able to reap these benefits unless we address the problem Palestine“.

Biden was ready to end Prince Mohammed’s isolation last October, when he planned to meet the Saudi leader at a meeting of the 20 liter groupleader and most likely they would shake his hand.

But the prince did not participate.

The just-planned stop in Riyadh, previously reported by Post columnist David Ignatius, drew rapid criticism from human rights groups.

They denounced any diplomatic rehabilitation of Crown Prince Mohammed.

“Right now, Biden is affected by crises that intersect and as a result some human rights priorities are affected,” said Suzanne Nossel, executive director of PEN America, a group that advocates for freedom of expression around the world. .

“The harder it becomes to put human rights above politics, the more important it is for the world to see a leader willing to do so.”

He called a defense group 9/11 FamiliesUnitedrepresenting relatives of the victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, on Thursday sent a letter to the president urging him to pressure Saudi leaders on ties to the hijackers.

Biden last year ordered the declassification of 9/11 investigation documents into Saudi Arabia involvement.

“No restoration of our nation’s relations with Saudi Arabia can or should be possible without adequate reconciliation for the attacks of September 11, 2001,” the group said in the letter.

The two countries have had trade envoys in recent months.

Brett McGurk, the White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, was in Saudi Arabia last week to discuss the presidential visit and other issues.

Khalid bin Salman, deputy defense minister and brother of the crown prince, visited Washington last month and met Jake Sullivan, the president’s national security adviser.

While Biden was already moving to recalibrate relations with Saudi Arabia, the imperative became more pronounced with Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

Russia and Saudi Arabia are almost on par second oil producer around the world, which means that when Biden administration officials tried to cut one, they concluded they couldn’t afford to disagree with the other.

The administration was pleased that Saudi Arabia joined a US-backed UN resolution condemning Russia in March and that, more recently, Riyadh sent a message putting pressure on Moscow to free food exports blocked in the Ukrainian port of Odessa.

Yet the Saudis remain embittered over a Biden presidency.

In addition to releasing the Khashoggi report and 9/11 documents, the Biden administration removed the designation of terrorists of the Houthi rebels of Yemenreversing a Trump-era policy cherished by the Saudis.

Riyadh was also angered by Biden’s focus on accelerating the shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy, a process that would undermine its business model.

And in the background looms the push of the administration to relaunch the Iran nuclear dealthat the Saudis fear it could enhance their regional nemesis.

In an interview last month with Arab News, a Saudi media outlet, Prince Turki al-Faisal, a senior member of the royal family and the son of a former king, exposed a series of complaints from the kingdom against its most important ally. saying that the Saudis felt “defrauded” from the United States.

In addition to the designation of a Houthi terrorist and the fact that Biden has so far not met Crown Prince Mohammed, he cited the removal of US missile batteries from the kingdom at a time when it was under missile attack from Yemen.

“It’s not just one thing,” Prince Turki said.

“I think that’s the general tone of the atmosphere.”

The increase in oil production announced Thursday by Saudi Arabia and other energy states may not have a major impact on the pump price at home.

But administration officials expect further production increases in September, enough to have an impact on the market.

Some experts are skeptical.

Bruce Riedel, a Brookings Institution scholar and author of “Kings and Presidents,” on Saudi-American relations, said the president’s visit could strengthen the tenuous truce in Yemen, which in itself would be a top priority.

“This could help save thousands of lives, especially children in Yemen,” he said.

“But the American people are looking at gas prices, not Yemen. The Saudis are unlikely to do anything significant on the pricing front, nor is it clear that they can do enough to actually bring prices down. Biden probably won’t deliver what voters want: low gas prices at the pump. “

Peter Baker reported from Washington and Ben Hubbard from Amman, Jordan.

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