Thursday, US President Joe Biden renewed the US' commitment to supporting Saudi Arabia in defense, but in return he stressed that Washington must review the Kingdom's human rights record, in a long-awaited phone call with King Salman, according to the White House.

A statement by the US presidency said that Biden and the Saudi monarch discussed "the commitment of the United States to support Saudi Arabia in defending its territories in the face of attacks by groups allied with Iran."

The statement added that talks that were overshadowed by the upcoming publication of an American intelligence report on the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consolate in Istanbul.

The White House previously announced that Biden wanted to "reset" relations with Saudi Arabia and that he will hold talks with King Salman bin Abdulaziz and not with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

"We have been clear from the start that we will reset our relations with Saudi Arabia," said US presidential spokeswoman Jane Sackey, indicating a different approach to that taken by former President Donald Trump towards Riyadh.

When asked about the possibility of Biden holding telephone conversations with the Saudi crown prince, who was the preferred interlocutor of the US administration during the era of the former US president, Saki indicated clearly that this matter is not on the agenda.

She explained, "The president's counterpart is King Salman."

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