US President Joe Biden's planned visits to Saudi Arabia and Israel later this month have been postponed until July, several officials told NBC News on Friday.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
The White House is now planning a broader trip to the Middle East next month, sources said, although a number of Israeli officials expressed fears over the weekend that the American leader might decide to avoid coming to the Jewish state altogether in view of the precarious state of its governing coalition, the left-wing Haaretz daily reported on Saturday.
"We are working on a trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia for a GCC+3 Summit," a senior administration official told NBC News. "We are working to confirm dates. When we have something to announce, we will."
A foreign diplomat and two US officials said the Saudi stop will no longer take place in late June, and two US officials said the trip to Israel was also being pushed back. Both visits had been expected to be tacked on to Biden's previously scheduled trip to Germany and Spain this month.
The reason for the delay wasn't immediately clear and the US officials added that the dates remained in flux and could change again.
In the event that the fragile coalition headed by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett collapses, the likely successor to Bennett is Benjamin Netanyahu, who famously had a fractured relationship with former US president Barack Obama, whose second-in-command Biden was for two terms.
Should the current government survive until July, however, a visit in such circumstances could be interpreted as a statement of support for the incumbent prime minister against Netanyahu, according to the Israeli officials who spoke to Haaretz anonymously.
The report also suggests that the focus of Biden's first Middle East tour as president would be Saudi Arabia, an emerging partner in the international coalition against Russia, rather than Israel.
As a candidate for the White House, he pledged to treat Saudi Arabia as a "pariah" for the 2018 killing and dismemberment of US-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's brutal ways. US intelligence officials determined that the crown prince likely approved the killing.
Biden, who spent the weekend at his Delaware beach home, sidestepped questions from reporters on Friday about whether he would meet with the prince, often referred to by his initials, MBS, should he visit the kingdom.
"Look, we're getting way ahead of ourselves here," Biden said when asked about such a meeting. "What I want to do is see to it that we diminish the likelihood that there's a continuation of this, some of the senseless wars between Israel and the Arab nations, and that's what I'm focused on."
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
The OPEC+ group – OPEC nations plus Russia – announced on Thursday they would raise production by 648,000 barrels per day in July and August, offering modest relief for a struggling global economy that's been impacted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
OPEC, whose de facto leader is Saudi Arabia, had for months resisted pressure from the White House to increase oil supply more quickly. That stance, along with a European Union agreement to end most oil imports from Russia, has pushed prices higher. Gasoline and diesel prices have also been rising due to a lack of refining capacity to turn crude into motor fuel.
Biden on Friday called the move by OPEC+ "positive," but said that he did not know if it would be significant enough to help Americans at the pump. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Thursday credited Saudi Arabia for its role "in achieving consensus" within the oil producers' bloc.
In addition to the White House praising Saudi Arabia for its role securing an OPEC+ pledge, the president last week lauded the Saudis for demonstrating "courageous leadership" by agreeing to a 60-day cease-fire extension in its seven-year-old war with Yemen. The extension was also announced Thursday.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
