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By Marwa Rashad
RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia finally congratulated Joe Biden on his election victory on Sunday, more than 24 hours after beating Donald Trump, who had close personal ties to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The former US vice president has pledged his campaign to reassess ties with the kingdom, demanding more responsibility for the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Istanbul consulate in Riyadh and calling for an end to US support for the war in Yemen.
As other Arab states rushed to applaud the Democratic challenger, the kingdom’s de facto crown prince Mohammed bin Salman remained silent on the US vote even as he addressed warm words to the President of Tanzania on his re-election.
At 7:32 p.m. GMT on Sunday, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and his son, the Crown Prince, congratulated Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on their victory in the presidential election, the official news agency reported SPA.
“King Salman praised the distinguished, historic and close relations between the two friendly countries and their people which each seeks to strengthen and develop at all levels,” SPA added.
Prince Mohammed’s relationship with Trump had provided a buffer against international criticism of Riyadh’s rights record over Khashoggi’s murder, Riyadh’s role in the Yemen war, and the detention of female activists.
These areas can 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 first hours after American networks triggered Biden’s election.
A Saudi political source downplayed the risk of a falling out between the kingdom and the United States, pointing to Riyadh’s historic ties to Washington.
But Saudi Arabia’s Okaz newspaper gave some idea of the uncertainty over how the future will unfold for the kingdom. “The region is waiting … and preparing … for what will happen after Biden’s victory,” he wrote in a front page article.
The kingdom may not have to wait long. Neil Quilliam, associate researcher at UK think tank Chatham House, said the Biden administration would likely seek to signal its dissatisfaction with Saudi domestic and foreign policies early on.
“Saudi leaders fear that a Biden administration and a hostile Congress will conduct a comprehensive review of relations, including reassessment of defense ties, and therefore likely sound positive and steps to end the conflict in Yemen.” , did he declare.
Saudi Arabia was an enthusiastic supporter of Trump’s “maximum pressure” of severe sanctions on Iran, its regional rival. But Biden has said he will revert to a 2015 nuclear pact between world powers and Tehran, a deal negotiated when Biden was vice president of Barack Obama’s administration.
Abu Zaid, a cashier at a Riyadh supermarket, said he hoped Biden would take a different approach. “I’m not happy with Biden’s victory, but I hope he learns from Obama’s mistakes and realizes that Iran is a common enemy,” he said.
A Saudi political source said the kingdom had “the capacity to deal with any president because the United States is a country of institutions and there is a lot of institutional work between Saudi Arabia and the United States. “.
“Saudi-American relations are deep, lasting and strategic and are not subject to change because a president changes,” he said.
Prince Mohammed had denied ordering Khashoggi’s murder, but in 2019 he admitted some personal responsibility saying it happened under his watch. Riyadh jailed eight people for seven to 20 years in the case.
(Additional reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi in Dubai; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Edmund Blair and Philippa Fletcher)
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