His visit caused a lot of ink to flow.
This Saturday, US President Joe Biden left Saudi Arabia, boarding Air Force One at Jeddah airport at 1:45 p.m. GMT, heading for the United States, after his first tour of the Middle East.
The leader concluded a less than 24-hour visit intended to renew ties with the oil-rich Gulf monarchy.
But some of his attitudes have been very noticeable.
During this short visit, his "check" with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was highly criticized, in particular by Hatice Cengiz, the widow of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, assassinated at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 2, 2018, and of which “MBS” is considered the main sponsor.
The Khashoggi case mentioned
The American president assured Friday that he had mentioned this case "at the very beginning" of his meeting with the crown prince, ensuring that he had been "couldn't be clearer".
According to the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Adel al-Jubeir, interviewed by CNN, MBS "explained on Friday (to Joe Biden) that this was a tragedy for Saudi Arabia".
Also according to Adel al-Jubeir, "MBS" told Biden that "those responsible had been investigated, faced justice and were now paying for the crime", concluding by saying that, for the kingdom , it was a closed case.
Riyadh denies “normalization” with Israel
Additionally, Biden has said he wants to promote a new "vision" for the Middle East, based on dialogue and economic and military cooperation.
Against the backdrop of the normalization process between Israel and certain Arab countries, in which Washington would also like to involve Saudi Arabia, Mr. Biden hailed Riyadh's "historic" decision to open its airspace to "all carriers including Israelis.
However, a few hours after his departure, the Saudis sought to temper an announcement that "has nothing to do with diplomatic ties" with the Jewish state, according to the Saudi foreign minister.
For Prince Faisal ben Farhane, it is only a question of "ensuring a connection between the different countries of the world" and it is "in no way a prelude to any step" towards normalization.
Finally, Joe Biden also mentioned the rise in the gallon of gasoline, which is a considerable issue a few months before the mid-term elections in the United States.
“I am doing everything possible to increase production for the United States,” Biden said, claiming to have had fruitful discussions with the Saudis, the concrete results of which will be seen “in a few weeks”.
The United States "will not turn away" from the Middle East
Before heading to Saudi Arabia, Biden began his tour of the region on Wednesday with a visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories before traveling to Saudi Arabia to attend a summit in Jeddah bringing together the six members of the Cooperation Council of the Gulf (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain), as well as Egypt, Jordan and Iraq.
In a speech delivered Saturday to an audience of Arab leaders, Mr. Biden promised that his country “would not turn away” from the Middle East by leaving “a vacuum that could be filled by China, Russia or Iran”.
He also affirmed that “the future belongs to the countries (...) whose citizens can question and criticize their leaders without fear of reprisals.
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