Desk Report
Publish: 16 Jul 2022, 08:45 pm
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and US President Joe Biden meet at Al Salman Palace upon his arrival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on July 15, 2022 || Photo: Bandar Algaloud/ Courtesy of Saudi Royal Court/ Handout via Reuters
Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia
Mohammed bin Salman has told US President Joe Biden that Saudi Arabia has acted
to prevent a repeat of mistakes such as the murder of journalist Jamal
Khashoggi and that the United States had also made mistakes, especially in
Iraq, a Saudi official said.
Biden said on Friday he told
Prince Mohammed he held him responsible for the murder of Washington Post
journalist Khashoggi, shortly after he exchanged a punch with the kingdom's de
facto ruler.
"The kingdom has taken every
measure to avoid similar mistakes in the future," the crown prince told
Biden.
The crown prince has denied any
responsibility for Khashoggi's murder.
The Saudi official, in a
statement sent to Reuters about Friday's conversation between the two leaders,
said the crown prince said trying to impose certain values by force on other
countries could backfire.
Biden, who landed in Saudi Arabia
on Friday on his first trip to the Middle East as president, is hosting a
summit with six Gulf States and Egypt, Jordan and Iraq on Saturday while
downplaying his meeting with Prince Mohammad. This meeting sparked
criticism in his country regarding human rights violations.
Biden promised to make Saudi
Arabia a "pariah" on the world stage over the 2018 killing of
Khashoggi, but ultimately decided that US interests dictate improving relations
with the world's top oil exporter and the Arab power.
"In the same year, similar
regrettable incidents took place and other journalists were killed in other
parts of the world," the crown prince said. "The United States also
made a number of mistakes like the Abu Ghraib prison incident in Iraq and
others.
Prince Mohammed, known as MbS,
also spoke about the murder of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu
Akleh during an Israeli raid in the West Bank.
All the countries of the world,
especially the United States and the kingdom, share values on which they
agree and have others on which they do not agree, according to the press
release quoted by MbS.
"However, trying to impose
these values by force could have the opposite effect, as has happened in Iraq
and Afghanistan, where the United States has failed," the statement said.
Washington has softened its
stance on Saudi Arabia since Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this year,
triggering one of the world's worst energy supply crises.
Saudi Minister of State for
Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir told reporters that the two countries had moved
on._Reuters
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