Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN)– US President Joe Biden said on Friday that he had raised the issue of the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi during his meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Biden added, to reporters at his hotel in Jeddah, following the meeting, which lasted for more than an hour, that he was “frank and direct” when discussing this issue with the Saudi crown prince.
The US President stated that Mohammed bin Salman told him, during their talks, that he was not “personally responsible” for the killing of Khashoggi, and Biden said in response to that, that he indicated that he “believed that he was.”
Joe Biden defended his meeting, saying that he was visiting Saudi Arabia for the interests of the United States, and said: “I did not come here to meet the Crown Prince, I came here to meet the Gulf Cooperation Council and 9 countries to deal with the security and needs of the free world, especially the United States, and not leave Empty here.
Commenting on what Khadija Cengiz, Khashoggi’s fiancée, said, “The blood of the next victim of Mohammed bin Salman will be in Biden’s hands,” the US President said, “I’m sorry that she felt this, I was frank today.”
When a reporter asked Biden if he might be sure that an incident like Khashoggi’s killing would not happen, the US president said he “cannot be sure that another murder like the horrific murder of Jamal Khashoggi won’t happen once more.”
He added, “I have just made it clear that if anything like this happens once more, there will be a response and more,” and stressed that he “will not remain silent on human rights issues because it would conflict with who we are.”
Biden reiterated that he did not regret his statement when he was a candidate that Saudi Arabia should become a “pariah” following Khashoggi’s murder, and said: “I do not regret anything I said, what happened to Khashoggi was outrageous.”
And the Saudi Press Agency, “SPA”, said that Prince Mohammed bin Salman held an official session of talks with the US President, and “the historical friendship relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States of America were reviewed, aspects of cooperation between the two countries in a number of fields were discussed, and ways to confront challenges in the region were discussed.” and the world.”
