Icon: enlarge
US President Joe Biden: "Recalibrate" relations with Saudi Arabia
Photo: Evan Vucci / AP
Joe Biden first spoke on the phone with the Saudi King Salman.
The White House announced on Thursday that the newly elected US president had told the king that he would work to "make bilateral relations as strong and transparent as possible."
Biden reaffirmed the importance that the US attaches to human rights and the rule of law.
The White House announcement made no mention of the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The promised publication of a US intelligence report on the murder of Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate general in Istanbul was awaited by the Biden government.
Khashoggi was murdered by a special squad on October 2, 2018 in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul.
His body has not yet been found.
After weeks of denials, Riyadh finally admitted, under international pressure, that the government critic had been killed "in a failed mission to arrest him."
The traces led to the closest circle of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who, however, denied having ordered the killing himself.
A UN human rights expert came to the conclusion in 2019 that there was credible evidence of possible personal responsibility of the heir to the throne and other high-ranking representatives of Saudi Arabia.
A few weeks after the crime, the Washington Post reported that the US secret service had come to the conclusion with a high degree of certainty that the Crown Prince had ordered the killing.
Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, was a close ally of the royal family in Riyadh.
The Republican continued to support Saudi Arabia even after Khashoggi's murder.
The government of Democrat Biden has made it clear that it will realign relations with Saudi Arabia.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Thursday, "Our government is focused on recalibrating the relationship."
Icon: The mirror
svs / dpa / Reuters