Joe Biden says he will 'make announcement' on Saudi Arabia on March 1

US President Joe Biden on Saturday said that he would be making an announcement on Saudi Arabia, following the intelligence report that implicated Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for ordering the killing of the dissident journalist Kamal Khashoggi in a covert operation. Speaking to reporters outside the White House, the US president said that he would be making an announcement on Monday on how the United States will proceed in ties with Saudi Arabia. Further, Biden stated that he would see whether he would “punish” the 35-year-old de facto ruler for the human rights violations. 

Earlier, the United States Office of the Director of National Intelligence published a report that stated, ‘Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.’ The report, furthermore, alleged that the Saudi prince ‘approved’ an operation with the direct involvement of a key adviser and members of Muhammad bin Salman's protective detail in the operation’.

Exposing the Saudi Crown prince’s involvement in the brutal 2018 assassination of the WaPo journalist, the US intelligence said that the kingdom’s prince exercised full control of decision-making in Saudi Arabia. Following the release of the sensitive document, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on February 27 sanctioned at least 76 Saudi Arabia officials, according to the US state department, who were “believed to have been engaged in threatening dissidents overseas, including but not limited to the Khashoggi killing.”

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Saudi rejects intel report

Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, rejected the US intel report. In response to the alleged involvement of Khashoggi’s killing, Saudi Foreign Ministry issued a statement, saying that the US intel report reeked of false information. Further, the kingdom clarified that the Saudi government took "all necessary judicial measures" to prosecute the murderers. “The government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia completely rejects the negative, false and unacceptable assessment in the report pertaining to the Kingdom’s leadership, and notes that the report contained inaccurate information and conclusions,” the Saudi Arabian foreign ministry’s statement read. It added, that the killing of the journalist Khashoggi was an “abhorrent crime and a flagrant violation of the Kingdom’s laws and values. This crime was committed by a group of individuals that have transgressed all pertinent regulations and authorities of the agencies where they were employed.” 

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