[ad_1]
Saudi Arabia has expressed confidence that there will be no change in its relationship with Washington, despite the promise of Democratic President-elect Joe Biden to reassess ties with that country in light of its record in the field of human rights.
Riyadh’s relationship with the White House witnessed a great rapprochement during the term of Republican President Donald Trump, who established a personal relationship with his rulers and launched a maximum pressure campaign against his opponent, Iran, and made his mark. fat in the face of what she considers rights violating activists.
Observers believe the Kingdom is concerned about the possibility that the Biden administration will withdraw from sanctions against Iran and return to the nuclear deal with which Trump withdrew, selling career weapons, and holding him accountable for issuing rights. .
But the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Adel Al-Jubeir, said in an interview with “CNN” on Saturday that the Kingdom treats the President of the United States “as a friend, whether Republican or Democrat.”
“I think what people say in the campaign often doesn’t translate once they take office. President Trump said things about Saudi Arabia during the campaign, yet we were the first country to visit when he took office.” added.
Al-Jubeir, who was the Kingdom’s ambassador to the United States and foreign minister, added: “We deal with presidents as soon as they take office, and we have great interests with the United States. … I don’t expect that there is a major change in US foreign policy. ”
The Saudi official’s statements came while his country was organizing a hypothetical G20 summit. During his election campaign, Trump attacked Saudi Arabia and said it “treats women like slaves and kills homosexuals,” but he visited her at the start of his first overseas tour in 2017 and made her one of his closest allies. close in the world.
The businessman’s close relationship contrasts with the tepid relationship that linked the oil-rich kingdom to his predecessor, Barack Obama, who by signing the deal with Iran on its nuclear file raised the concerns of Saudi Arabia and its neighbors.
Biden, who was Obama’s deputy during his two terms, vowed to reevaluate the relationship with Riyadh and hold him responsible for the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, in a crime that the CIA said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman may have ordered, which denied more than once.
However, Al-Jubeir said in the interview, “The United States is a global power with global interests,” referring to the cooperation of the two countries in various files since the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the fight against the extremist Islamic State, to global economic and energy security.
“These interests are huge for us and for the United States, and these interests are permanent and do not change. No two countries work together in the field of countering terrorism and extremism more than the United States and Saudi Arabia, and we will continue. doing it, “he explained,” We are the key to the Islamic world. “
