Saudi Crown Prince’s White House Visit Rekindles Controversies

• 

  Newsroom

• November 19, 2025

• Newsroom

Saudi Crown Prince’s White House Visit Rekindles Controversies

President Donald Trump welcomed Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) to the White House this week, marking the prince’s first official visit to the United States in more than seven years. While the meeting underscored a renewed strategic partnership between Washington and Riyadh, it also reignited intense criticism over human-rights abuses and the unresolved fallout from the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

According to reporting by People Magazine, President Trump referred to MBS as “a friend of mine for a long time” during their meeting in the Oval Office, signaling a diplomatic recalibration between the two leaders. The administration also announced its intention to designate Saudi Arabia as a “Major Non-NATO Ally,” a status that expands military cooperation and defense privileges. (New York Post)

In parallel, the U.S. government confirmed plans to pursue the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia — a move that has raised concerns in Congress due to the aircraft’s sensitive technology and ongoing apprehension about Saudi Arabia’s ties with China. The Associated Press (AP) highlighted that the proposed deal has already prompted bipartisan scrutiny on Capitol Hill.

On the economic front, Reuters reported that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman expressed interest in increasing Saudi investment in key U.S. sectors, including technology, artificial intelligence and civil nuclear energy. These initiatives reflect the kingdom’s broader ambition to expand its influence in advanced technological industries.

Despite diplomatic advances, the visit revived criticism over Riyadh’s human-rights record. President Trump once again downplayed the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies that MBS likely approved the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, calling the event “a complicated situation” and insisting the prince “knew nothing about it,” according to AP coverage. The remarks sparked renewed concern among press-freedom organizations and human-rights advocates.

Controversy grew further after The Guardian revealed that a senior official accompanying the crown prince’s delegation to Washington had been previously implicated by U.S. prosecutors in a scheme to infiltrate social-media platforms and monitor critics of the Saudi government. The revelation prompted renewed scrutiny of Saudi influence operations inside the United States.

The visit, while strategically significant for U.S.–Saudi relations, underscores the Biden administration’s complex balancing act: strengthening defense and economic ties with a key Middle Eastern partner while addressing persistent questions about accountability, repression and the assassination of dissidents.