No call planned between President Biden, Mohammed bin Salman: White House

No call has been planned between US President Joe Biden and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), the White House says, as the new administration is reviewing the US policy toward Saudi Arabia.

“Well, obviously, there’s a review of our policy as it relates to Saudi Arabia,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a daily press briefing on Friday, when she was asked if Biden is willing to “even pick up a phone and talk with MBS of Saudi Arabia”, given his involvement in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

“There’s not a call planned that I’m aware of, but I can speak with our team if there’s something more significant than that to report,” she said.

Jamal Khashoggi, a columnist for the Washington Post, was lured into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018, then strangled and dismembered with a bone saw by a kill team sent from Saudi Arabia.

His gruesome killing shocked the world and made MBS a pariah on the world stage. While he denied any role in the murder, the CIA has concluded that he was behind the killing, partly due to his absolute control over Saudi Arabia.

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Psaki said earlier this month that the new US administration is ready to release a report detailing its understanding of who is responsible for the Khashoggi murder.

She called Khashoggi’s death a “horrific crime,” adding, “We are prepared to release an unclassified report with full transparency for Congress. This is the law, and we’ll follow the law.”

However, Psaki side-stepped a question on whether the new administration would impose sanctions on Riyadh for the murder.

Biden emerged as an outspoken critic of MBS while he was campaigning for the November 3 presidential election.

Speaking at a Democratic debate, Biden said he would make Saudi Arabia “the pariah they are” and he would stop selling weapons to the kingdom if he was elected.

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A week into Biden’s presidency, his administration suspended weapons sales to Saudi Arabia, which has been leading an ongoing war on Yemen since 2015. The weapons sales were authorized by former president Donald Trump, who had a cozy relationship with the Saudis.

Since the beginning of the war against Yemen, the US and some other Western powers supported the Saudi-led war coalition through arms sales and technical assistance. With Biden’s victory, observers expect a change in US policy toward Saudi Arabia, especially due to its Yemen war and human rights violations.

However, Biden’s announcement and measures have been met with doubts on the part of the Ansarullah movement, which runs the Sana’a government. They argue that nothing has changed as long as Riyadh and its allies are actively attacking Yemen.

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