During his Middle East tour, US President Joe Biden said that his country intends to remain active in the Middle East and is not going to "leave", leaving a "vacuum".
"Let me be clear that the United States intends to remain an active and interested partner in the Middle East", Biden said at a press conference in Saudi Jeddah, broadcast on the White House website, RIA Novosti reported.
As the world becomes more competitive and the challenges to be faced become more complex, it becomes clear "how closely America's interests are intertwined with success in the Middle East. We will not go away and leave a vacuum that will be filled by China, Russia or Iran", the US president added.
Biden's talks with the leadership of Saudi Arabia were also difficult: the American president said afterwards that he considers Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud responsible for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. In turn, the Crown Prince denied his involvement in this murder, reminding the American leader of Washington's own sins, Reuters writes.
"Riyadh has taken all measures to prevent similar mistakes in the future. But we should not forget that the USA also made a number of miscalculations such as the incident with the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq", he stressed.
The Saudi spokesperson said that Prince Mohammed also warned Biden about the negative consequences of attempts to impose certain values on countries by force: "Like it happened in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the US failed", the statement said.
Negotiations on possible Arab oil supplies to the United States also failed: after a meeting with Biden, Mohammed bin Salman said Saudi Arabia were ready to increase oil production by 3 million barrels per day, after which "the country will have no more opportunities to increase production".
The Crimean Senator Olga Kovitidi said that the US plans to increase oil production in the Middle East had failed, and the Arab countries hadn't supported Washington's anti-Russian rhetoric.
"U.S. President Joe Biden’s attempts to make the East play by "American rules" have failed. The US plan to increase oil exports to lower world prices has played into the hands of Russia: since the second quarter of this year, Saudi Arabia has significantly increased Russian oil exports, and Riyadh has used these supplies to cover the domestic market needs, which in turn made it possible to increase the Saudi oil export, including to American consumers", the politician said.
Speaking about Russia, then the participants in the Gulf Cooperation Council summit "did not support Biden's idea to open an anti-Russian front in the East, while not condemning the Russian special operation in Ukraine", Kovitidi stressed.
