Saudis Want Biden to Counter Iran, Forget Khashoggi in Gas Crisis Bargain – By Tom O’Connor, Kaitlin Lewis and Fatma Khaled (Newsweek) / June 15, 2022
As President Joe Biden prepares for his meeting with Mohammed bin Salman, the powerful Saudi crown prince known worldwide simply as “MBS,” the plans of his visit are overshadowed by a mounting energy crisis that is likely to dominate their discussions next month in the coastal city of Jeddah.
With the national average price of gas in the United States now surpassing an unprecedented $5 a gallon and still rising with no clear end in sight, domestic frustration threatens to derail Biden’s foreign policy agenda at a time when the president is looking to continue rallying the country and its allies in support of tough measures against energy titan Russia in response to its ongoing war in Ukraine.
Perhaps no other person at this moment in time has as much power to influence the dynamic of the world oil market as Prince Mohammed, a man whom Biden has called “a pariah” due to allegations of human rights abuses. The crown prince’s de facto leadership within his country’s absolute monarchy grants him the ability to increase his wealthy kingdom’s energy production, bringing down the price of oil worldwide.
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