February 9th, 20240In a sharply worded rebuke likely to postpone any talk of expanding the Abraham Accords until after the U.S. election, Saudi Arabia said unequivocally it will not normalize relations with Israel as desperately hoped for by the Biden administration in Washington, and would only consider it if the war in Gaza stops and an independent...
July 22nd, 20220Russian President Vladimir Putin ended his first major summit outside Russia since the invasion of Ukraine with an endorsement from Iran for its response to NATO, a clash with Turkey over Syria and signs of progress over the lifting of the Russian blockade of Ukrainian grain.
The White House said the Tehran summit held between Putin,...
July 19th, 20220SAUDI ARABIA — President Biden's visit in recent days to top oil exporter Saudi Arabia ended without any announcements that the kingdom would raise oil production to help lower fuel prices which are spurring the highest U.S. inflation in four decades.
Top U.S. energy envoy Amos Hochstein told a television program on Sunday that...
July 12th, 20220WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. President Biden will make the case for greater oil production from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) nations to bring down gasoline prices when he meets Gulf leaders in Saudi Arabia this week, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Monday.
Biden leaves Tuesday...
July 9th, 20220— This article by Abbas Al Lawati originally appeared in CNN Business. It has been edited for style.
Oil has added trillions of dollars to Saudi Arabia’s coffers over the decades, but it’s a resource that will someday run out or lose value as the world turns to alternative energy.
Despite current high oil prices, the kingdom...
July 1st, 20220President Biden said on Thursday he would not directly press Saudi Arabia to increase oil output to curb soaring crude prices when he sees the Saudi king and crown prince during a visit later this month.
Biden also said at a news conference in Spain that Americans will have to stomach high gas prices for "as long as it takes" to beat...
June 17th, 20220WASHINGTON, D.C. — The White House confirmed dates and some details on President Biden’s July trip to the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia and Israel, amid concerns over the human rights records of both countries.
Human rights advocates are critical of Biden’s July 13-16 trip, which will include a meeting with the...
June 5th, 20220WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Biden should not visit Saudi Arabia or meet its Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who approved an operation to capture or kill murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to U.S. intelligence, a leading Democratic lawmaker said on Sunday.
Khashoggi, a U.S. resident who wrote opinion columns for the...
July 8th, 20210WASHINGTON, D.C. — Saudi Deputy Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman said he held "a great meeting" on Wednesday with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in which they explored strengthening U.S.-Saudi ties and reviewed regional developments.
Prince Khalid, the brother of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de facto...
May 5th, 20210RIYADH – Saudi Arabia is considering barring overseas pilgrims from the annual Hajj for the second year running as COVID-19 cases rise globally and worries grow about the emergence of new variants, two sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
Such a move would restrict the pilgrimage to Mecca, a once in a lifetime duty...
October 15th, 20190GENEVA, SWITZERLAND — A total of 134 people have been executed this year alone in Saudi Arabia, with six of those killed being children at the time of their arrest, figures revealed at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva showed.
The figures emphasized the systematic torture of detainees and grossly unfair trials culminating...
March 9th, 20190WASHINGTON, DC — Retired General John Abizaid, President Trump’s nominee to be ambassador to Saudi Arabia, defended the U.S.-Saudi relationship on Wednesday as lawmakers accused the kingdom of a litany of misdeeds and criticized its crown prince as going “full gangster.”
Both Republican and Democratic Senators at Abizaid’s...
December 14th, 20180WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate delivered a rare double rebuke to President Trump on Saudi Arabia on Thursday, voting to end U.S. military support for the war in Yemen and blaming the Saudi crown prince for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The votes were largely symbolic because to become law the resolutions would have to pass...
November 16th, 20180WASHINGTON — The United States imposed economic sanctions on 17 Saudi officials on Thursday for their role in the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor sought the death penalty for five suspects in the murder.
The U.S. Treasury Department sanctions were the first concrete response by the...
October 26th, 20180Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor said on Thursday the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate this month was premeditated, reversing previous official statements that the killing was unintended.
The death of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of de facto Saudi ruler Crown Prince...
October 19th, 20180NEW YORK — JP Morgan & Chase Company Chief Executive Jamie Dimon and Ford Motor Company Chairman Bill Ford canceled plans to attend a Saudi investor conference, the companies said on Sunday, the latest such high-profile announcements after the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The cancellations could add...
October 19th, 20180Saudi Arabia and especially its young crown prince – who has been variously portrayed as naïve, venal and blood-thirsty – appear to have vastly misjudged the reaction to the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist who opposed the new heir’s unchecked efforts to reshape the kingdom and the entire Middle East region with...
October 16th, 20180The disappearance and possible murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has cast a long shadow over Saudi Arabia’s global image. If the Saudi government did in fact kill or kidnap him, the crime would have significant implications for Middle East politics.
Turkish authorities believe he has been killed and his body, possibly...
April 3rd, 20180RIYADH — Saudi Arabia’s crown prince said in a published interview that Israelis are entitled to live peacefully on their own land, another public sign of an apparent thawing in ties between the two countries.
Asked if he believes the Jewish people have a right to a nation state in at least part of what they consider their...
March 16th, 20180RIYADH/SANAA — Saudi Arabia and its adversaries in Yemen's armed Houthi movement are holding secret talks to try to end a three-year-old war that has unleashed the world's worst humanitarian crisis, diplomats and Yemeni political sources said.
A Saudi-led coalition is fighting to counter the influence of Riyadh's arch-foe Iran, an...
November 17th, 20170By Patrick J. Buchanan
If the crown prince of Saudi Arabia has in mind a war with Iran, President Trump should disabuse his royal highness of any notion that America would be doing his fighting for him.
Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS, the 32-year-old son of the aging and ailing King Salman, is making too many enemies for his own good,...
November 17th, 20170DEARBORN — They might be thousands of miles away, but news of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri's resignation – and the prospect that Saudi Arabia has something to do with it – has Lebanese expatriates on edge.
Dozens of Lebanese Americans in Metro Detroit joined a protest at the Lebanese American Heritage Club in Dearborn...
