(CNN)–The White House confirmed, on Friday, for the first time, that US President Joe Biden will meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman without the presence of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz, while he is in Jeddah.
According to the visit program, the Saudi monarch will only attend about 30 minutes during bilateral meetings, Friday evening, and this was expected due to the king’s health, but this is the first time that the White House has publicly acknowledged this, and Biden and the Saudi crown prince will continue to meet them after the king’s departure.
The Biden administration has tried to send a message to the Saudi crown prince, in the past, arranging phone calls between Biden and the Saudi monarch in his place to make contact “with the peer” again, as former White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in early 2021.
On Thursday, the US president declined to commit that he would discuss the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi with leaders in Saudi Arabia, saying instead that he “always” discusses human rights issues, and that his view of the killing is “absolutely clear.”
When asked if he would discuss the Khashoggi case with the Saudi leadership, Biden said: “My view on Khashoggi was absolutely positive and clear, and I have never stood silent about the question of human rights.”
The US president added, “I always discuss human rights but my position on Khashoggi has been very clear, if no one understands that in Saudi Arabia, or anywhere else, he has not been around for a long time.”
Biden said that the reason for going to Saudi Arabia is “more comprehensive”, and that he is making this visit to achieve American interests, and noted that he will meet with a number of leaders of Middle Eastern countries and the Gulf Cooperation Council while he is in Saudi Arabia.
The US president emphasized that he had the opportunity to fix a “mistake” of what he described as “evading America’s influence in the Middle East”, in another reference to the administration of former President Donald Trump.