The New York Times: Biden will not punish Mohammed bin Salman directly because the price of punishing him will be high

The New York Times reported, citing US officials, that President Joe Biden had decided not to directly punish Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

High-level officials in the US administration, whose names were not mentioned by the newspaper, indicated that Biden’s decision comes after weeks of discussions with his security team, which reached the conclusion that there is no way to prevent the Saudi crown prince from entering the United States or bringing criminal charges against him without Damage to relations with Saudi Arabia, which is one of Washington’s most important allies in the region.

The officials said there was consensus within the White House that the price for damaging relations with Saudi Arabia would be very high in terms of cooperation on combating terrorism and countering Iran.

The “New York Times” indicated that human rights organizations were pressuring Biden to impose travel restrictions on Mohammed bin Salman, at least, as the administration of former President Donald Trump did against other Saudi officials believed to be linked to the crime.

Biden aides said the White House would not invite Mohammed bin Salman to visit anytime soon.

This comes against the backdrop of the White House publishing an intelligence report about the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018, in which it was stated that Mohammed bin Salman was seeing Khashoggi as a threat to the kingdom and agreed to a plan to arrest or kill the journalist.
The United States imposed travel restrictions on more than 70 Saudi citizens over the Khashoggi case.

Source: The New York Times