On journalist Khashoggi killing, Saudi prince says US also made mistakes

The Saudi crown prince told Joe Biden the US had also made mistakes, after the president confronted him over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told President Joe Biden that Saudi Arabia had acted to prevent a repeat of mistakes like the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and that the United States had also made mistakes, including in Iraq, a Saudi minister said.

Biden said on Friday he told Prince Mohammed he held him responsible for the 2018 murder of Washington Post journalist Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, shortly after exchanging a fist bump with the kingdom's de facto ruler.

"The President raised the issue... And the crown prince responded that this was a painful episode for Saudi Arabia and that it was a terrible mistake," the kingdom's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Adel al-Jubeir, said.

Those who were accused were brought to trial and punished with prison terms, he said.

US intelligence agencies believe the crown prince ordered Khashoggi's killing, which he denies.

Jubeir, talking to Reuters about Friday's conversation between the two leaders, said the crown prince had made the case that trying to impose values by force on other countries could backfire.

"It has not worked when the US tried to impose values on Afghanistan and Iraq. In fact, it backfired. It does not work when people try to impose values by force on other countries," Jubeir quoted the prince, known as MbS, as telling Biden.