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After a long wait, US President Joe Biden had a telephone conversation with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz.
They spoke before the release of a US intelligence report on the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The report is believed to have been related to the murder of an influential Arab prince. French news agency AFP reported.
King Salman has been waiting for Biden’s long line of phone calls since he took office five weeks ago.
The telephone diplomacy is part of the White House call for a rapprochement with Saudi Arabia over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The Washington Post journalist was brutally murdered by assassins at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2016. Influential Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is also involved, according to a US intelligence report.
The White House says the 65-year-old king has spoken with Biden about strengthening security ties. The United States has vowed to protect Saudi territory in the wake of attacks by groups linked to Iran.
The BBC quoted the White House as saying that the issue of human rights was important in the telephone conversation between the president of the United States and the king of Saudi Arabia. Biden noted that the United States places great importance on global human rights and the rule of law.
Biden spoke with the Saudi king ahead of the publication of an American investigation into the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The US military says a car bomb exploded at an Iraqi police recruitment center in Kisak, west of Mosul.
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