Biden arrived in Saudi Arabia on Friday, concluding his Middle East tour, and met with Mohammed bin Salman. On Saturday, the US president participated in the Gulf Cooperation Council summit, held in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah.
A senior Saudi official told Al Arabiya on Saturday that the meeting between Prince Mohammed and Biden lasted for three hours covering a wide range of issues.
According to the source, the Crown Prince told Biden that attempting to impose a given country’s values on another state by force is counterproductive, as demonstrated by US failures in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mohammed bin Salman said that, if we assume that the US will deal only with countries that share 100% of its values and principles, then it will have no countries that deal with it except NATO countries.
Prince Mohammed told Biden that the two countries must coexist despite their differences and that every country’s values must be respected.
The senior Saudi official told Al Arabiya that Mohammed bin Salman also mentioned US "mistakes" made at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and other incidents, such as the killing of veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. Commenting on the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the Crown Prince told Biden that it was "regrettable" but said that Saudi Arabia had undertaken all the legal procedures in the Khashoggi case.
Prince Mohammed said that it is important that all countries deal with their mistakes and implement all the necessary procedures to prevent similar regrettable incidents in the future.