Biden says he raised Khashoggi killing with Saudi crown prince

JEDDAH • United States President Joe Biden said he told Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that he holds him responsible for the killing of columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

Mr Biden said that he raised Mr Khashoggi's 2018 murder in Saudi Arabia's Istanbul consulate at the beginning of a meeting with the prince in Jeddah on Friday.

"He basically said that he was not personally responsible for it," Mr Biden told reporters after about two hours of meetings with the kingdom's leaders, including the prince. "I indicated he probably was."

Mr Biden added: "What happened to Khashoggi was outrageous."

Meanwhile, a Saudi official said yesterday that the prince had told Mr Biden that Saudi Arabia had acted to prevent mistakes like the killing of Mr Khashoggi, but that the US had made mistakes as well, including in Iraq.

The official, in a statement sent to Reuters about Friday's conversation between the two leaders, said the kingdom's de facto ruler said that trying to impose certain values by force on other countries could backfire.

Prince Mohammed also raised the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh during an Israeli raid in the West Bank, and mentioned the abuse by US forces of prisoners in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.

Mr Biden had demurred on questions about whether he would raise the Khashoggi killing directly while in Saudi Arabia, instead saying that his position is clear and that human rights in the country are a concern.

Last year, the US President released an intelligence report indicating that MBS, as the prince is known, had ordered the operation at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul that led to the murder of the Washington Post columnist and Saudi critic.

But Mr Biden had declined to add the prince to the list of people sanctioned for the crime, with the White House citing precedent regarding not sanctioning foreign leaders, as well as behind-the-scenes diplomatic conversations.

After Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry released photos of Mr Biden fist-bumping the prince upon his arrival on Friday at the royal palace in Jeddah city, Mr Khashoggi's fiancee, Ms Hatice Cengiz, tweeted to Mr Biden that "the blood of MBS' next victim is on your hands".

"I'm sorry she feels that way," Mr Biden said. "I was straightforward back then, I was straightforward today."

In a parallel briefing, Mr Adel al-Jubeir, Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, said his country's officials had investigated Mr Khashoggi's murder, and that those guilty for the slaying were held responsible.

Meanwhile, the United States and Saudi Arabia have agreed on the importance of stopping Iran from "acquiring a nuclear weapon", a joint statement carried by Saudi state news agency SPA said.

The statement said Mr Biden also affirmed the US' continued commitment to supporting "Saudi Arabia's security and territorial defence, and facilitating the kingdom's ability to obtain necessary capabilities to defend its people and territory against external threats".

Teheran and Riyadh, the leading Shi'ite and Sunni Muslim powers in the Middle East, respectively, severed ties in 2016 over backing opposing sides in proxy wars across the region, from Yemen to Syria and elsewhere.

Saudi Arabia and the US underscored the need to further deter Iran's interference in "the internal affairs of other countries, its support for terrorism through its armed proxies, and its efforts to destabilise the security and stability of the region", the statement said.

BLOOMBERG, REUTERS