Atlanta, USA (CNN) – US President Joe Biden confirmed that there are no “direct plans” to visit Saudi Arabia, but he did not rule out going to the Gulf country to meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as he seeks to improve relations in the Middle East. .
Biden said in a speech Friday, regarding the visit to Saudi Arabia: “I am not sure, I have no direct plans at this moment,” he said.
CNN and other media outlets reported plans for the president to visit Riyadh later this month, which represents a shift in his electoral platform in which he referred to the need to “ostracize” Saudi Arabia because of its role in the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Biden has been “engaged in trying to work on how to establish stability and peace in the Middle East,” and added, “I might meet with the Israelis and some Arab countries, including, I expect, a visit to Saudi Arabia, if I go (to the Middle East), but I have no plans at the moment,” he said.
The US president defended his vision of the “renunciation” of the kingdom and its crown prince, saying: “I will not change my view of human rights, but as the president of the United States of America, my job is to bring peace if I can, and this is what I’m trying to do,” he said.
The US President described the talk regarding his meeting with the Saudi crown prince, who is trying to keep him out of the limelight, as “premature.”
Biden said: “We are anticipating events here, I want to see that we end any possibility of the continuation of an absurd war between Israel and the Arab countries, this is what I focus on,” as he put it.
Israeli press reports had talked regarding Biden’s intention to sponsor an agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia that includes the withdrawal of international forces from the islands of Tiran and Sanafir in exchange for Riyadh allowing Israeli planes to cross its airspace, according to a report by “Jerusalem Post”, and CNN was unable to verify the authenticity of these news.