U.S. President Joe Biden and Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud held a first telephone call Thursday, underscoring the enduring strength of relations ahead of a sensitive intelligence report on the grisly killing of a reporter for The Washington Post, The Independent and NDTV reported Friday.
An intelligence document on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 is about to be released. He was a U.S.-based Saudi citizen who had been a vocal critic of Salman's expected successor, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Khashoggi was last seen alive during a visit to the Saudi embassy in Istanbul, Turkey, Oct. 2, 2018. His remains were never recovered.
The report is a declassified version of a top-secret evaluation that sources say points to the 85-year-old king's son as the one who authorized the murder of The Washington Post columnist in Saudi's consulate in Istanbul, Reuters reported.
Saudi Arabia denies that the 35-year-old crown prince, the de facto ruler of the kingdom, approved the murder.
If, as some analysts expect, the intelligence report directly incriminates Prince Mohammed in Khashoggi's killing, it will cast a dark shadow over diplomatic relations between Washington and its most important ally in the Arab world which had prospered under Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump.
"The King stressed in the call with President Biden the deep relations between the two countries and the importance of strengthening partnership to serve mutual interests and achieve regional and international security and stability," the Kingdom's state news agency SPA said in a statement.
Saudi Arabia was Trump's first international visit, where he met with the crown prince. Bin Salman also visited the White House in March 2018.
A White House report of Biden and King Salma's phone conversation did not reveal whether they discussed the findings in the report.
