Joe Biden’s presidency was always going to be a stress test for the US-Saudi relationship. On the campaign trail, Mr Biden vowed to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” over its pervasive human rights abuses and that it would “pay the price” for the killing of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi.
But few could have predicted how far the partnership, defined for years by massive US arms sales to Riyadh in return for cooperation on security and energy, would deteriorate.
