White House communicates with the Saudi king instead of the crown prince as the U.S. reevaluates relationship

White House communicates with the Saudi king instead of the crown prince as the U.S. reevaluates relationship

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“We made it clear from the beginning that we are going to recalibrate our relationship with Saudi Arabia,” said Psaki during a news conference.

“And part of that is going back to engagement, counterpart to counterpart. The president’s counterpart is King Salman, and I hope that, at the appropriate time, he will have a conversation with him. I don’t have a prediction of the schedule on which.”

The approach marks another notable break with former President Donald Trump, who strongly supported Bin Salman even after U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that he personally ordered the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post, had written critically about the prince’s policies in the kingdom. US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told lawmakers during her confirmation hearing that she would “absolutely” provide Congress with a non-confidential report on Khashoggi’s murder.

Biden announced earlier this month that the United States will end all support for Saudi Arabia’s offensive operations in Yemen. The conflict “created a humanitarian and strategic catastrophe”, said the president, although he made it clear that the United States “will continue to help and support Saudi Arabia”.

The government also halted arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates while conducting a broader review of trillions of dollars worth of deals made by the Trump administration, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

Secretary of State Tony Blinken confirmed that pending arms sales are being analyzed, as is typical at the beginning of a new government, “to ensure that what is being considered is something that advances our strategic objectives and advances our foreign policy”.

At the end of last year, the Trump administration promoted a series of high-dollar weapons sales to Riyadh and Abu Dhabi linked to the Abraham Accords, which were agreements to normalize relations with Israel.

The former government issued an emergency declaration in 2019 in order to streamline arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to circumvent Congressional concerns. Lawmakers opposed the sales due to the involvement of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in the bloody conflict in Yemen, as well as the death of Khashoggi.

A report from the State Department’s Inspector General’s Office concluded that the agency met legal requirements when declaring the emergency, but did not fully assess the risks to civilians associated with this sale.

Psaki added on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia is still “in a position where it is defending itself from threats in the region”.

“They have critical needs for self-defense,” she said. “And we will continue to work with them on this, even when we make clear the areas where we have differences and concerns. And that is certainly a change in the approach of the previous government.”

Biden’s first leadership call for the region, however, will be for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “said Psaki.

“It will be soon.”

Jennifer Hansler and Kylie Atwood of CNN contributed to this report.

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