Arab Press

بالشعب و للشعب
Wednesday, Oct 01, 2025

The leader of the past to meet the leader of the future: US, Saudi officials reportedly discussing Biden meeting with crown prince

The leader of the past to meet the leader of the future: US, Saudi officials reportedly discussing Biden meeting with crown prince

Biden-MBS summit only a matter of time, former US official tells CNN, as Saudi deputy defense minister visits DC for talks with top aides.

US and Saudi officials have reportedly been in talks about arranging a meeting between President Joe Biden and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman when the former is slated to travel to the region next month.

The Thursday CNN report citing current and former US officials came as Saudi Deputy Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman was in Washington for meetings with senior Biden officials.

A date has not yet been set and details are still being finalized but Biden is expected to travel to Israel and the West Bank late next month in what will be his first visit to the region as president.

The trip would provide an opportunity for visits with other partners in the area, and CNN said US and Saudi officials are hoping to organize a meeting.

“You should count on something like this happening, it just comes down to when, not if,” a former US official told CNN, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The White House has slowly sought to improve ties with Saudi Arabia after Biden came down hard on Riyadh and its crown prince during his election campaign over the country’s human rights record and the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

But as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to rock the global energy market, the US is finding itself increasingly reliant on Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude oil exporter.


Biden has yet to speak with MBS, preferring to work with his 86-year-old father, King Salman. But the president’s top aides have been meeting with the crown prince, building speculation that a summit with the president is inevitable.

But a meeting is also likely to generate criticism back home by US lawmakers from both parties, particularly progressive Democrats who have criticized Riyadh’s role in the deadly Yemen civil war.

It may be a pill worth swallowing though, as Biden seeks to shore up ties with traditional Gulf allies who are concerned about the US withdrawing from the region. The Biden administration is also engaged in a last ditched effort to salvage a nuclear deal with Iran, which has Tehran’s rivals — who make up some of the United States’ closest allies in the Mideast — concerned.

Talks in Vienna aimed at a US-Iran mutual return to compliance with the accord known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action have hit a wall over Iran’s insistence that the US delist its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz was also in Washington this week for meetings with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during which he encouraged the US to strengthen the anti-Iran coalition in the Middle East.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz (left) and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan meet at the White House in Washington, May 19, 2022.


Gantz stayed at the same hotel as the Saudi defense minister’s staff, raising speculation among some that there may be some covert communication between the sides. While Riyadh has been seen as warming to the idea of normalizing ties with Israel in recent years, MBS has insisted that the step will not come devoid of a resolution to Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians.

Nonetheless, Sullivan reportedly raised the notion of Israel normalization during a meeting with bin Salman last year in the Red Sea city of Neom.

The Saudi crown prince in turn presented US officials with a list of steps that would have to take place before such a normalization agreement could move forward, according to the Axios news site. Those steps included an improvement in bilateral US-Saudi relations after ties cooled since Biden’s election. Such an agreement would also likely require significant steps by Israel vis a vis the Palestinians, the report noted.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Arab Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Trump Backs Putin’s Land-for-Peace Proposal Amid Kyiv’s Rejection
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
United States Sells Luxury Yacht Amadea, Valued at Approximately $325 Million, in First Sale of a Seized Russian Yacht Since the Invasion of Ukraine
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
×