After returning to the White House, US President Joe Biden spoke at a press conference about his trip to the Middle East.
In a speech, he spoke of the importance of this trip in not allowing China and Russia to fill the vacuum in the Middle East, as they have already done in other parts of the world.
Reporters asked Biden about the Saudi crown prince’s reaction to the president’s comments about his responsibility for Khashoggi’s murder.
“He (Mohammed bin Salman) said he wasn’t personally responsible for it (the crime), but I showed that he was (probably involved),” Biden said.
Biden added: I announced to the crown prince that any attack on the opponents and critics of the Saudi authorities will be considered a violation of human rights.
Biden’s comments contradicted Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, who told Fox News that “Mohammed bin Salman told Biden that the kingdom acted to prevent mistakes like the Khashoggi murder that the United States committed.” Mistakes too.”
When asked if Biden blamed the Saudi crown prince for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist critical of Saudi Arabia, the secretary of state replied that he had “not exactly heard that phrase.”
????New: After POTUS left Saudi Arabia on AF1, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir contacted my colleague. @AlexHoganTV Back for a second interview – even though Fox interviewed him the other day.
He flatly claimed that he “didn’t hear” Biden tell MBS that he believed he was responsible for Khashoggi’s murder.
— Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) July 16, 2022
When a journalist asked Biden if the Saudi foreign minister was truthful in his account of what happened between him and Mohammed bin Salman, Biden replied, “No.”
A reporter told Biden that he had spoken with Khashoggi’s wife and that she had expressed her displeasure with the president’s visit.
“I’m sorry he feels that way. I’ve been clear (on my position) in the past and I’m clear (on my position) now,” the president replied.
The president repeated what he said earlier that “I did not go to Saudi Arabia to meet the crown prince, but to participate in the summit of 9 countries to discuss the security of the free world and the United States.”
“I don’t regret anything I said. What happened to Khashoggi was horrible,” Biden said of his earlier comments that Saudi Arabia was a “mahram” country.
Promising to ask about the criticism he would face after his first contact with the Saudi crown prince and whether he could guarantee that crimes like Khashoggi’s murder would not be repeated, the president laughed and said, “That’s a ridiculous question.”
“It is impossible for anyone to guarantee or guarantee that such crimes will not occur in the future anywhere in the world, but he has repeatedly warned of the consequences of such actions,” Biden explained.
Biden emphasized that “as president of the United States, he must speak out about human rights violations everywhere in the world, as he did before about forced labor and slavery in China.”
The president noted that “fuel prices are currently decreasing daily and he expects to see additional results from his trip on fuel prices in at least two weeks.”
Source: Lebanon Debate
