Jamal Khashoggi’s US lawyer sentenced to three years following detention in UAE

Follow for the latest updates on Biden’s Middle East tour

Biden says US would use force as ‘last resort’ to prevent Iranian nuclear weapons

President Joe Biden’s trip to the Middle East came to an end with yet more controversy after it emerged that an American lawyer who previously represented murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi had been detained in the UAE.

US citizen Asim Ghafoor was detained at Dubai airport on Thursday while travelling to Istanbul for a family wedding and was held on charges related to an in absentia conviction for money laundering. Mr Ghafoor reportedly had no prior knowledge of any conviction.

UAE state media said on Saturday that the attorney had been sentenced to three years in prison.

On Saturday, Mr Biden met with UAE President Sheik Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and invited him to visit the US before the year is out.

He was one of multiple Middle Eastern leaders Mr Biden met in Saudi Arabia on Saturday before leaving aboard Air Force One.

New details also emerged about Friday’s controversial meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – the man US intelligence found responsible for ordering the Khashoggi’s murder.

When Mr Biden confronted MBS about the killing – after a friendly fist-bump – he denied the accusation and fired back about the US’s own controversies.

Key points

• Biden accuses Saudi officials of lying about his confrontation with MBS
• Jamal Khashoggi’s American lawyer sentenced to three years in UAE prison
• Biden says he took MBS to task over journalist’s murder in Saudi Arabia
• MBS fires back at Biden with America’s own controversies
• MBS says Saudi Arabia can’t produce much more oil
• Biden’s controversial fist-bump with MBS

[16 July 2022 00:00 · Oliver O'Connell]

Biden’s weekend schedule

All times Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

11amThe president participates in a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi of Iraq

11.40amThe president participates in a bilateral meeting with President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi of Egypt

12.15pmThe president participates in a bilateral meeting with Sheik Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates

12.45pmThe president attends a GCC +3 Leaders Welcome Reception

12.55pmThe president participates in a family photo with GCC +3 leaders

1.15pmThe president attends the GCC +3 Summit Meeting

3pmThe president participates in a working lunch

4.45pmThe president departs Jeddah, Saudi Arabia en route Mildenhall, United Kingdom, for a refuelling stop before proceeding on to Washington, DC, with expected arrival time of 12.40am ET on Sunday.

[16 July 2022 01:00 · Oliver O'Connell]

Biden says he’ll take action on climate change if Senate bill fails

President Joe Biden said that he would take executive action on climate change if Democrats’ proposed spending bill doesn’t include clean energy provisions, but he did not mention Senator Joe Manchin, who has been vocal about his opposition to a larger bill including climate provisions and tax increases.

The president is currently traveling in the Middle East while Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer negotiates with Mr Manchin.

Eric Garcia reports.

[16 July 2022 02:00 · Oliver O'Connell]

Khashoggi fiancee criticizes Biden visit

Hatice Cengiz, the fiancee of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, described Joe Biden’s decision to visit Saudi Arabia as “heartbreaking,” accusing the U.S. president of backing down from his pledge of prioritizing human rights.

In an interview with The Associated Press in Istanbul a day before Biden travels to Saudi Arabia Friday to meet with the crown prince, Cengiz said Biden should press Saudi Arabia — a country that she described as a “terrible ally” — to embrace a human rights agenda. She also wants Biden to seek more answers from Saudi authorities over what happened to Khashoggi’s remains.

[16 July 2022 03:00 · Oliver O'Connell]

US ‘not going to wait forever’ for Iran to reenter nuclear agreement

President Joe Biden on Thursday warned that the negotiations meant to bring Iran back into the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear agreement cannot be allowed to drag on indefinitely.

Speaking at a press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, Mr Biden was asked if he’d set a deadline for when he might walk away from the talks, which the US is hoping will re-start the agreement which former president Donald Trump walked away from in 2018.

Andrew Feinberg reports.

[16 July 2022 04:00 · Oliver O'Connell]

Biden hails Trump-era Abraham Accords during trip to Israel

President Joe Biden on Thursday offered a wholehearted endorsement to the Abraham Accords, a series of normalisation agreements between Israel and several Middle East monarchies brokered during the Trump administration. Mr Biden added that he would work to expand the efforts under his predecessor to deepen ties between Israel and its neighbours.

“We will also continue building on the Abraham Accords, which I strongly support because they deepen, they deepen Israel’s integration into the broader region and establish lasting ties for business, cooperation, and tourism,” Mr Biden said during a press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid.

[16 July 2022 06:00 · Oliver O'Connell]

ICYMI: Biden secures deal on Red Sea islands and Israeli use of Saudi airspace

It was reported on Thursday that President Joe Biden helped cement an agreement between Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt that would resolve a long-standing dispute over a pair of islands in the Red Sea and allow Israeli aircraft to transit through Saudi airspace for the first time in history.

According to Axios, the agreement would allow the Saudis to take full control of Tiran and Sanafir islands, which have been a demilitarised zone since Egypt and Israel signed the 1979 peace treaty negotiated with the help of then-president Jimmy Carter.

Mr Biden later issued the following statement before flying to Saudi Arabia on Friday:

Saudi Arabia’s historic decision to open its airspace for all civilian planes, including those flying to and from Israel, is an important step towards building a more integrated and stable Middle East region. While this opening has long been discussed, now, thanks to months of steady diplomacy between my Administration and Saudi Arabia, it is finally a reality. Today, I will be the first president of the United States to fly from Israel to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. As we mark this important moment, Saudi Arabia’s decision can help build momentum toward Israel’s further integration into the region, including with Saudi Arabia. I will do all that I can, through direct diplomacy and leader-to-leader engagement, to keep advancing this groundbreaking process.

[16 July 2022 07:30 · Oliver O'Connell]

As Biden visits Saudi Arabia, many still targeted by official clampdown

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s reputation as a brazen leader who has ruthlessly silenced critics and dissent will cast a shadow over his meeting on Friday with US President Joe Biden.

The royal has sidelined top princes who could pose a threat and overseen Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen. The 2018 killing of Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul still looms large — though the prince is credited with pushing through once-unthinkable changes, allowing women to drive and travel freely, permitting concerts, opening movie theaters and de-fanging the once-feared religious police.

[16 July 2022 09:00 · Oliver O'Connell]

Ilhan Omar says Saudi trip ‘sends wrong message' on human rights

Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota criticised President Joe Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia, saying it sends the wrong message about the United States’ position on human rights.

The Minnesota Democrat and member of the Squad, who is a refugee from Somalia, said Mr Biden’s trip goes back on his word that he would make Saudi Arabia a “pariah nation” after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Eric Garcia reports from Capitol Hill.

[16 July 2022 10:30 · Oliver O'Connell]

ICYMI: Biden’s arrival in Saudi Arabia makes history

President Joe Biden on Friday arrived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for two days of meetings with Saudi officials and leaders from across the Gulf region, less than one day after the kingdom announced it would open its’ airspace to all carriers, including those departing from Israel.

Mr Biden arrived aboard Air Force One at 5.53 pm local time, just under two hours after taking off from Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. The president’s plane was the second-ever flight to travel directly from Israel to Saudi Arabia, the first such flight having been made by a charter plane carrying the White House press corps several hours earlier.

Nevertheless he was the first US president to make such a trip.

[16 July 2022 12:00 · Oliver O'Connell]

Biden told he ‘cannot buy solution’ to Palestine occupation

Joe Biden has been accused of attempting to “buy a solution” to Israel’s half-century-long occupation of Palestine as it was revealed that he would be pledging more than $300 million (£250m) in aid.

On Friday, the US president met his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem – in the Israeli-controlled West Bank – where people gathered to protest his arrival.

Lamiat Sabin reports.