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WSJ: CIA Chief William Burns Met With Saudi Crown Prince Last Month

ENERGY SECURITY

The Wall Street journal has reported that CIA chief William Burns made an undisclosed visit to Jeddah to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman last month in a bid to repair the Saudi-US relationship.

  • The Biden administration has made a number of rebuked approaches to Riyadh to increase oil production to fill the global shortfall caused by the war in Ukraine and sanctions on Russia.
  • Middle East specialist Joshua Landis: 'CIA chief William Burns traveled to the Saudi Arabia to fix Biden's "pariah" comments. Also to repair relations by re-focusing them on security for oil.'
  • Burns is a former US Secretary of State and US ambassador to Jordan and the Russian Federation, therefore a logical choice for the administration as diplomacy stalled via official channels.
  • State Department advisor and academic Vali Nasr: 'With U.S.-Saudi relations at their lowest point in decades, William Burns stepped into his old role as diplomat to mend ties.'

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