This combo photo shows US Secretary for State Antony Blinken (right) and Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud. (PHOTOS / AP)
WASHINGTON – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud on Monday and repeated a call for progress on human rights.
In a statement, the US State Department said Blinken and the Saudi minister discussed regional security and the attack last month on the tanker Mercer Street in the Arabian Sea, which Washington blames on Iran, and other regional issues.
US Secretary for State Antony Blinken awnd Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud discussed regional security, the attack on the tanker Mercer Street in the Arabian Sea last month, and bolstering security cooperation
They also discussed bolstering security cooperation, Saudi support for a comprehensive ceasefire in Yemen and the need for immediate steps to mitigate Yemen’s humanitarian crisis, according to the statement.
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"Secretary Blinken emphasized the need for progress on human rights," reads the statement, echoing a US statement from July after Saudi Arabia's deputy defense minister held talks in Washington with US national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
The State Department statement made no mention of the 2018 murder of Washington Post columnist and Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi, which took place when President Joe Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, was in office.
Biden shook the relationship with Saudi Arabia, a close US ally, by allowing the release in February of an unclassified US intelligence report that found that Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is known as MbS, approved the operation in which Khashoggi was killed.
Riyadh denies that MbS was involved.
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Biden also ended US support for offensive operations by the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen. But he has deflected calls by lawmakers and human rights groups for sanctions on MbS.