President Biden to lay out foreign policy strategy on final day of trip to Middle East
President Joe Biden is trying to answer in the affirmative as he wraps up a four-day trip to the Middle East Saturday with meetings in Saudi Arabia – the country he previously vowed to shun because of its human rights abuses.
Biden is expected to touch on economics, security and human rights issues.
American voters, on the other hand, are likely more interested in whether he can convince the oil-rich kingdom to help bring down the price of gas.
While no specific commitments have been announced, Biden noted that the OPEC+ group of oil producing nations recently increased production and said he expects to see “further steps in the coming weeks.”
The latest:
- New approach: Biden was forced to change his approach to Saudi Arabia due to the geopolitical realties of the short-term rise in gas prices, the long-term energy security challenges, the need to deter Iran’s aggressions in the region and the fear of leaving a vacuum in the Middle East that China or Russia could fill.
- Opening airways: In what the White House views as a vindication of his engagement with Saudi Arabia, the kingdom announced it will open its airspace to “all air carriers,” signaling the end of their longstanding ban on Israeli flights overflying their territory – a key step toward normalization between the two nations.
- Message of peace: Biden flew from Israel to Saudi Arabia, where he brought with him a “message of peace” from Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid to all the Arab nations in the region.
- Khashoggi killing: Biden said he brought up the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a U.S.-based journalist who wrote for The Washington Post, in his meeting Friday with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. U.S. intelligence believes the crown prince likely approved the killing of Khashoggi four years ago. Biden said the prince claimed he was not personally responsible. “I indicated I thought he was,” Biden said.
- Inching toward normalization: Biden announced that peacekeepers will depart the Red Sea island of Tiran by the end of the year in the latest sign that Saudi Arabia and Israel are inching toward normalization. The island, controlled by Egypt before being ceded to Saudi Arabia in 2017, has hosted American troops as part of the Multinational Force and Observers since 1981 after Israel and Egypt reached a peace accord.
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Contributing: The Associated Press