CIA Chief Visited Saudi Arabia in Attempt To Repair Ties, Report Says

CIA Director William Burns made an unannounced trip to Saudi Arabia last month to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a bid to repair ties with the kingdom, The Wall Street Journal reported. The mid-April meeting took place in Jeddah, US and Saudi officials told the newspaper. No details of their conversation were reported, however. “It was a good conversation, better tone than prior US government engagements,” one American official told the Journal. Relations between the US and Saudi Arabia have been challenged by the murder of journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, which an investigation by the United States released under President Joe Biden shows was approved by the crown prince, the de facto Saudi ruler, known as MBS. In addition, Saudi Arabia feels “let down” by Biden’s decision to halt the United States’ support for the Saudi-led coalition in defense of the internationally recognized government of Yemen, a senior member of the Saudi royal family said this week. The CIA and the Saudis did not comment on the report.