Posted on 06/03/22
| News Source: Washington Post
President Joe Biden is planning to visit Saudi Arabia later this month, a remarkable departure from his vow as a presidential candidate to treat the country as a “pariah” state, according to three administration officials who requested anonymity to share details of a trip not yet announced.
The president’s trip to Riyadh follows broader efforts by his administration to build ties with the oil-rich nation to reduce the price of gas in the United States, which has skyrocketed in recent months.
The stop in Saudi Arabia is expected to be added to Biden’s overseas trip later this month, when he will travel to Israel, Germany and Spain, the officials said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia ruptured after the 2018 killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and outspoken critic of the Saudi government. American intelligence has concluded Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince and de facto leader, ordered the killing of Khashoggi.
“We were going to in fact make them pay the price, and make them in fact the pariah that they are,” Biden said of Saudi Arabia during a Democratic debate in 2019.