On Saturday, US President Joe Biden met with the leaders of Iraq, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates in an effort to forge regional missile and defence capabilities ahead of a larger Arab summit in Saudi Arabia.
Biden, who began his first trip to the Middle East as president with a visit to Israel, hopes to use the gathering in Jeddah to integrate Israel into a new axis driven largely by shared concerns about Iran.
‘We believe there is great value in incorporating as many capabilities in this region as possible, and Israel certainly has significant air and missile defence capabilities, which they require. But we’re having these discussions with these countries on a bilateral basis ‘According to a senior administration official,
Biden has emphasised the upcoming summit with six Gulf states as well as Egypt, Jordan, and Iraq, while downplaying his meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Human rights violations were alleged during that encounter in the United States.
Biden had promised to declare Saudi Arabia a ‘pariah’ on the global stage in response to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in 2018, but ultimately decided that U.S. interests demanded a rebalancing, not a rupture, in relations with the world’s top oil exporter and Arab powerhouse.
The US president said he brought up the Khashoggi murder at the start of his meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Friday, and that remaining silent on the issue of human rights is ‘inconsistent with who we are and who I am.’
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