Following the U.S. intel report, the State Department cites saying that Biden is trying to ‘rebalance’ or ‘conflict’ relations between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.
Biden’s administration on Monday defended its decision not to impose sanctions on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) for the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
“We are working to put U.S. Saudi relations on the right footing,” the State Department commented on Ned Price at a news conference in Washington defending the Biden administration’s decision not to allow a prince to crown, who is the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia. .
The Biden administration is trying to “rebalance”, not “conflict” the U.S.-Saudi relationship, Price said.
If the Biden administration had done “something more dramatic and something more drastic” by announcing MBS for sanctions, it would “significantly reduce” the U.S. influence in Riyadh, Price said.
The administration’s decision not to punish the crown prince drew harsh criticism from the publisher of the Washington Post, where Khashoggi was a columnist.
Accusing Biden of breaking his campaign promise to make the Saudi regime “pay the price” for Khashoggi’s assassination, Post publisher Fred Ryan wrote, “It appears as if he was under Biden’s administration, which could offer strategic value to the United States. gets a ‘one murder free’ pass. “
The U.S. State Department on February 26 placed 76 Saudi nationals on a non-travel list and the Treasury imposed financial sanctions on Saudi officials involved in Khashoggi’s assassination but Crown Prince Mohammed was not arrested.
The sanctions were announced after the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a report prepared by the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies outlining responsibility for the operation that killed Khashoggi to MBS.
“The choices Riyadh will make will have a huge impact on the region,” Price said.
“Our aim in all of this is to be able to sustain these choices. That is why we have spoken of this not as a riot but as a calibration to ensure that we maintain that influence in what we need for our own good. “
Price said since Joe Biden was elected US president, Riyadh has “taken steps in the right direction” by releasing women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul and two dual Saudi citizens -US, as well as ending the ban from Saudi against Qatar.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ‘agreed to work in 2018 to kill or capture Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi [File: Bandar Algaloud/Courtesy of Saudi Royal Court/Handout via Reuters]
An ODNI report said U.S. intelligence agencies had seen more than a year ago that the Saudi crown prince had approved the work with members of his defense intelligence to capture or kill Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry on Friday rejected the U.S. report as an error. Saudi officials have denied that MBS was involved in Khashoggi’s death.
The ODNI also said on Monday that it had removed three names of 21 people it had identified in Khashoggi’s original report as being involved in the murder.
The names of Abdulla Mohammed Alhoeriny, Yasir Khalid Alsalem, and Ibrahim al-Salim were not listed in a revised version of the ODNI report posted on the agency’s website.
“We posted a revised document on the website as the original one contained three names that should not have been added,” according to an ODNI spokesperson.
The office did not provide any further explanation for the error.
The new ODNI version of the report lists 18 people in addition to MBS as having been “considered, ordered, or otherwise connected with or responsible for the death of Jamal Khashoggi”.