Biden trying to organize first meeting with Saudi crown prince, CNN reports — a major climbdown after saying he didn't consider him an equal
- Biden may meet with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman in June, CNN reported.
- He was once dismissive of the prince — known as MBS — but now wants Saudi Arabia on side.
President Joe Biden may meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman next month, CNN reported, a sign that the US is deadly serious about winning back his affections.
A meeting between Biden and Crown Prince Mohammed, the kingdom's de facto leader also known as MBS, would likely happen on the fringes of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Riyadh, CNN reported.
Biden is expected to visit Israel next month, and may link the trips.
A meeting would be a significant climbdown for Biden, who pledged to make Saudi Arabia a "pariah" in the run up to the 2020 election.
The US then effectively demoted MBS to the rank of defense minister, saying he was not an equal head of state. Instead, the US said his Biden's counterpart was King Salman, MBS's ailing father who has long delegated the actual running of the nation to his son. Biden has yet to meet or speak to MBS via any medium.
In turn, MBS has said he doesn't care what Biden thinks of him and reportedly shouted at US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in September when the latter raised the 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi, which the CIA concluded that MBS likely ordered.
Relations soured further last year after Saudi Arabia and the UAE felt let down by the slow US response to a series of terror attacks in the Arabian Gulf.
More recently, the US had hoped that Saudi Arabia would boost oil production last month after Washington banned imports of Russian oil following President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
The Saudis declined, however, with MBS reportedly ignoring attempts from Biden to call him.
In recent weeks, top US officials, including CIA director Bill Burns and White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk, have flown to Saudi Arabia to try to build bridges.
In a sign of how seriously the US is taking relations with the Gulf, this week Biden also sent an unusually high-level delegation to the UAE, Saudi Arabia's closest ally, to pay respects after the passing of President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan.
The delegation was led by Vice President Kamala Harris and included Burns, secretary of state Antony Blinken, and defense secretary Lloyd J. Austin.
There are signs that the US and Saudi Arabia are getting over their differences.
Biden recently appointed a new US ambassador to Saudi Arabia after a long absence and, on Wednesday, Saudi deputy defense minister Prince Khalid bin Salman met with McGurk and Sullivan.
The official Saudi readout of the meeting said they discussed "ways to solidify and deepen relations between the two countries."