Jen Psaki, the White House’s Spokeswoman, told reporters that newly-elected President Joe Biden will conduct phone calls with Saudi Arabian King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak about the recalibration of bilateral relations and to establish first contact, respectively.
Psaki stated that the Biden administration has indicated multiple times that relations with Saudi Arabia would be subject to recalibration. Furthermore, following a question on potential talks with the Crown Prince, Psaki told reporters that Biden would be returning to diplomatic talks based on counterpart to counterpart interactions. Under the Trump administration, US talks with Saudi Arabia took place more between the US President and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Psaki underlined that Biden’s first interaction with a regional leader would be with Israeli President Netanyahu, which will take place very soon. We have a very crucial strategic and security-based relationship with Israel, said Psaki. Furthermore, she added that although our team is fully engaged with our Israeli friends, this has not reached the same level between the heads of state which will be solved as soon as possible.
