In what would be a major diplomatic turnaround, US officials are working to set up a personal meeting, probably in Riyadh, between President Joe Biden and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Slaman, whom Biden once called a "pariah," CNN reported on Thursday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th May, 2022) In what would be a major diplomatic turnaround, US officials are working to set up a personal meeting, probably in Riyadh, between President Joe Biden and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Slaman, whom Biden once called a "pariah," CNN reported on Thursday.
Biden and the Crown Prince could meet as soon as June, the report said, citing what it called multiple sources who all spoke on condition of anonymity. The meeting would be in the Saudi capital Riyadh during Biden's next scheduled overseas tour, the report added.
Biden called the Crown Prince a "pariah" in 2019 after the disappearance and believed murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi dissident, in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018.
In mid-April, CIA Director William Burns met in Paris with Mohammed bin Salman to mend US-Saudi ties. According to other US media reports, bin Salman has been seeking to establish closer relations with China as a counter to the increased strain in his dealings with the United States.
