MBS mocks Biden, cites Trump as his preference: WSJ
4 Min Read
With the latest rivalry simmering, Saudi officials have indirectly stated that if Congress approves anti-OPEC legislation, the country may sell its US Treasury bonds.
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The US Treasury building in Washington, DC. Source: Samuel Corum/Bloomberg
The Wall Street Journal quoting Saudi sources reported that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman mocks President Joe Biden in private, making fun of the President's gaffes and questioning his mental acuity, according to sources inside the government.
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According to the newspaper, the sources revealed that he has told advisors that he hasn't been impressed with Biden since his days as Vice President and that he prefers former President Donald Trump.
Biden said on the campaign trail in 2020 that he saw “very little social redeeming value in the present government in Saudi Arabia," according to the newspaper.
He refused to speak with Bin Salman for nearly a year, and when they finally met in Jeddah in July, after no longer being a "pariah" state, Saudi officials there believed Biden didn't want to be there and was uninterested in the policy conversations, according to the people. However, according to US officials, Biden spent a significant amount of time and energy in the sessions.
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Biden and Bin Salman attempted to establish a personal relationship during the President's July visit to Jeddah when they fist-bumped before a three-hour meeting, according to the newspaper. People close to the meetings claimed the President enraged the Prince by quickly bringing up human-rights accusations, notably the 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi writer living in Washington who was assassinated and dismembered by a team of Saudi operatives inside the Kingdom's Istanbul consulate.
According to the newspaper, geopolitical and economic forces have strained relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia. But Biden's feud with Bin Salman has exacerbated the situation, which is only going to grow worse.
"Rarely has the chain of broken expectations and perceived insults and humiliations been greater than they are now,” said Aaron David Miller, a US diplomat in the Middle East now at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “There’s almost no trust and absolutely no mutual respect.”
Saudi officials are frustrated that the relationship is still viewed solely through the lens of oil and security. Riyadh has presented the recent OPEC+ decision as critical to its core national interests, claiming that it was necessary to avoid a sudden collapse in crude prices.
Bin Salman now sees high oil prices as an opportunity to use the Kingdom’s natural resources to modernize the Saudi economy and build a post-oil future.
Read next: US re-evaluating ties with KSA following OPEC+ decision: WH
For his part, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan denied that bin Salman had mocked Biden or that he had told his aides that he did not like him and that he preferred Trump over him.
“These allegations made by anonymous sources are entirely false,” said Prince Faisal. “The kingdom’s leaders have always held the utmost respect for US presidents, based on the kingdom’s belief in the importance of having a relationship based on mutual respect.”
Possible cause of feud?
The newspaper reported that individuals familiar with the situation revealed that Saudi officials have informally stated that if Congress passes anti-OPEC legislation, the Kingdom may sell the US Treasury bonds it holds.
Saudi holdings of US Treasurys grew to $119.2 billion in June from $114.7 billion in May, according to US Treasury data, with Saudi Arabia being the 16th largest holder of US Treasury bonds, federal data revealed.
