Report: U.S. Seeking ‘Reset’ of Saudi Ties

Date: 11 June 2022 - 21:29

News ID: ۱۰۳۵۱۹

WASHINGTON (Anadolu/MEMO) – The U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration is seeking to fully revamp its relations with Saudi Arabia, according to a report.
The decision to “reset” ties would effectively move the U.S. past the kingdom’s grisly killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi for which Biden vowed to make Riyadh a “pariah,” CNN reported, citing anonymous senior U.S. officials.
An intelligence report publicly released by the administration last year named Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as being responsible for Khashoggi’s 2018 death in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. His body has never been recovered, and is believed to have been dismembered before being disposed of in either acid or a large incinerator.
But facing record breaking gas prices at home, and international efforts to hold Russia accountable for its war against Ukraine, Biden is ready to move on and revitalize relations with the kingdom and its de facto ruler.
“Both sides have decided that for the sake of achieving peace and stability in the Middle East, we need to move past it,” an official told CNN, referring to Khashoggi’s murder.
The officials added that the Saudis consider the matter of Khashoggi’s killing to be in the past, and have said that to Washington.
More than a dozen human rights groups have voiced “deep concerns” over Biden’s touted trip to Saudi Arabia and possible meeting with bin Salman, warning such a visit could encourage violations of human rights in the absence of commitments from Riyadh.
Biden confirmed last week he was considering a trip to the kingdom.

Zionist Regime Says on
Normalization Course

Furthermore, the Zionist regime says “work is underway” with Saudi Arabia with regard to the overflight of the Zionist regime’ aircraft over the Saudi territory as part of the normalization process.
“Work is underway with Saudi Arabia regarding the overflight of Israeli aircraft over its territory, which may reduce the flight time as part of the normalization process,” said the occupying regime’s transportation minister Merav Michaeli on Friday.
Her remarks come less than a week after Israel Hayom reported that a trilateral deal is being worked out between the occupying regime, Saudi Arabia and the United States, which represents as a new step towards normalization of ties between the regime and Riyadh.
The newspaper pointed out that Saudi Arabia is about to open its airspace to Israeli airlines.
Saudi Arabian airspace is currently only open to Israeli airlines when flying to the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain under the so-called Abraham Accords brokered by former U.S. president Donald Trump in 2020.
Even though the Zionist regime and Saudi Arabia do not have formal diplomatic relations, Riyadh has taken a number of steps recently toward normalizing relations with the occupying regime.