Cairo, Nov. 9, (dpa/GNA) – Saudi King Salman and his son Crown Prince Mohammed, strong allies of US President Donald Trump, have congratulated his rival on his election win, the official Saudi news agency SPA reported on Sunday.
The response comes almost a day after other Arab leaders rushed to welcome Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump.
In his congratulatory cable to president-elect Biden, the Saudi king hailed the “distinction of historical relations between the two friendly countries and people,” SPA reported.
Oil-rich Saudi Arabia has been a major ally of Trump and has staunchly backed his maximalist policy on Iran, a regional rival of Saudis.
Trump’s close ties with Saudi leaders are also thought to have eased pressure on Riyadh after the killing of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, in a Saudi consulate in Turkey in 2018.
A Saudi court charged eight low-ranking officials in connection with his death.
US intelligence officials, however, have said that the powerful Saudi heir apparent likely ordered the journalist’s murder, a claim that Riyadh has denied.
During his campaign, Biden promised, if elected, to halt US support for a years-long war in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia is leading a military alliance fighting Iran-linked Houthi rebels.
GNA