The death of writer Jamal Khashoggi was brought up, according to US President Joe Biden, during a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
After threatening to declare Saudi Arabia a "pariah" for its treatment of human rights, Mr. Biden is in the nation to mend relations.
The killing in 2018 was "vitally crucial to me and the United States," he said, and he had made that plain. He said, however, that the two nations have came to agreements on other matters.
Following the murder of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident who was based in the US, at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, in October 2018, Mr. Biden's visit has come under fire for being seen as a validation of the Saudi leadership.
US intelligence services asserted that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman authorised the murder. The prince has always refuted the charges, and Saudi authorities have placed the blame on "rogue" Saudi operatives.
In a news conference held following the meeting on Friday, Mr. Biden said, "With regard to the murder of Khashoggi, I mentioned it at the start of the discussion, making it plain what I thought of it at the time and what I think of it today.
"I stated unequivocally that it is irreconcilable with who we are as a nation and with who I am for an American president to remain silent on a human rights problem. I'll always fight for our principles.
According to Mr. Biden, the crown prince insisted that he was "not directly responsible" for the tragedy, according to the Associated Press. The president said that he answered, "I indicated I felt he was."
Prior to the meeting, Mr. Biden was photographed giving the crown prince a fist bump, suggesting that ties between the two nations may be improving.
Hatice Cengiz, Khashoggi's fiancée, criticised the president's conduct. In a tweet, she asked: "Is this the accountability you promised for my murder? She included a picture of the two guys and the phrases she thought her fiance would have used. You are responsible for MBS's upcoming victim's blood.
Fred Ryan, editor and CEO of the Washington Post, stated that President Biden and Mohammed bin Salman's fist bump was disgusting and worse than a handshake. The connection and comfort it conveyed gave MBS the unjustified atonement he had been fervently seeking.
Khashoggi was a Washington Post columnist.
Apart from the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, President Biden stated that he and his Saudi counterpart had spoken about energy and that he anticipated Saudi Arabia, a significant oil producer, will take "additional efforts" to stabilise the market in the coming weeks.
US Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman defended Mr. Biden's efforts, telling the BBC that Saudi Arabia raising its oil supply to the market will save lives.
"Oil prices cause deaths in developing nations. It drives up the cost of food and fertiliser and causes hundreds of thousands of deaths, not just from famine but also from the diseases that malnourished people are more likely to contract, according to him.
Therefore, Mrs. Khashoggi's [Hatice Cengiz] ability to say, "Don't care about those hundreds of thousands of people who will die, revenge my fiance," is quite simple. You all need to act like grownups here.
Additionally, Mr. Biden declared that Saudi Arabia will permit previously prohibited flights to and from Israel across its airspace.