Saudi Arabia Finally Congratulates Biden on His Win

The former US vice president pledged in his campaign to reassess ties with the kingdom, demanding more accountability over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Riyadh's Istanbul consulate and calling for an end to US support for the war on Yemen.

As other Arab states raced to applaud the Democrat challenger, the kingdom's de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman remained silent on the US vote even as he sent warm words to the president of Tanzania on his re-election.

At 1932 GMT on Sunday, Saudi Arabia's king Salman and his son, the crown prince, congratulated Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on winning the presidential election, Reuters reported.

King Salman praised the distinguished, historic and close relations between the two "friendly countries and their people which everyone looks to strengthen and develop at all levels."

Prince Mohammed's relationship with Trump had provided a buffer against international criticism over Riyadh's rights record sparked by Khashoggi's murder, Riyadh's role in Yemen's war and the detention of women activists.

Those areas may now become points of friction between Biden and Saudi Arabia, a major oil exporter and buyer of US arms.

"The only thing worse than COVID-19 would be BIDEN-20," wrote Saudi Twitter user Dr Muna, while many other Saudi users of the social media platform simply ignored the result in the initial hours after US networks called the election for Biden.

Saudi Arabia was an enthusiastic backer of Trump's "maximum pressure" of tough sanctions on regional rival Iran. But Biden has said he would return to a 2015 nuclear pact between world powers and Tehran, a deal negotiated when Biden was vice president in Barack Obama's administration.

Prince Mohammed had denied ordering Khashoggi’s killing but in 2019 he acknowledged some personal accountability by saying that it happened on his watch. Riyadh has jailed eight people for between seven and 20 years in the case.

source: tasnim