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WSJ: CIA chief met with Saudi crown prince on secret journey
MEE employees
Tue, 05/03/2022 – 20:46
CIA director William Burns met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman final month throughout an unannounced journey to Saudi Arabia, the Wall Road Journal reported.
The assembly comes because the Biden administration appears to be like to restore ties with its Gulf ally, which have grow to be strained over human rights points, the wars in Yemen and Ukraine, and talks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
Burns met with the crown prince, also called MBS, within the coastal metropolis of Jeddah the place the 2 males had “ dialog, higher tone than prior US authorities engagements”, in line with an unnamed US official quoted by the WSJ.
In April, the WSJ reported that the crown prince turned offended and shouted at US nationwide safety advisor Jake Sullivan throughout a gathering final yr.
The Gulf monarchy has been a longstanding ally of the US for 70 years, however ties have plummeted to historic lows underneath the Biden administration. As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden vowed to make the dominion a “pariah” over the killing of Washington Submit and Center East Eye columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
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In an interview aired by Arab Information on Monday, high Saudi royal and former intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal stated Biden had gone “on to practise what he preached” and that the 2 international locations had reached a “down” level within the relationship.
Extra not too long ago, the 2 long-time companions have clashed over the battle in Ukraine, the place Riyadh’s impartial place over Russia’s invasion of the nation has undercut western goals to isolate Moscow. The dominion has additionally rebuffed US calls to extend oil manufacturing to assist tame rising vitality costs, as an alternative sticking by an settlement with Russia to solely marginally improve output.
The warfare in Ukraine has underscored a shift to a extra unbiased Saudi coverage, which critics in Washington say has been attributable to the administration’s insurance policies within the area.
Final week, Senator Jim Risch, the highest Republican on the Senate International Relations Committee, warned throughout a listening to that “the Biden administration’s Center East insurance policies have strengthened a declare of American disengagement [from the region] and pushed our long-standing companions in the direction of China and Russia”.
Burns, the US spymaster and former diplomat who has held earlier positions within the Center East, has emerged as a key go-between for among the Biden administration’s most delicate recordsdata. In August, he met with high Taliban leaders in Kabul and he was dispatched to Russia in November to fulfill Vladimir Putin within the lead-up to the invasion of Ukraine.
Throughout the Obama administration, he helped spearhead secret negotiations with Tehran that result in the 2015 nuclear settlement, limiting Iran’s nuclear growth in trade for sanctions aid.
That settlement was opposed by Saudi Arabia and lots of of Washington’s different Center East allies, together with Israel. The international locations are alarmed by the Biden administration’s efforts to revive the accord.
Moreover the nuclear talks, Riyadh has additionally been irked by what they understand because the US’s tepid response to missile and drone assaults on the dominion emanating from Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Senior US officers have pushed again on claims of US disengagement from the area. In March. Dana Stroul, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for the Center East, stated the US has “actual fight energy” within the Center East and “goes to take care of it”.
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