RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA – DECEMBER 10: (—- EDITORIAL USE ONLY MANDATORY CREDIT – “BANDAR ALGALOUD / SAUDI UNITED KINGDOM / HANDOUT” – WITHOUT COMMERCIALIZATION OF ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS – DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS —- Mohammad bin Salman attends the 40th annual Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on December 10, 2019. (Photo by Bandar Algaloud / Council of the Saudi Kingdom / Brochure / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Anadolu Agency
WASHINGTON – The White House on Sunday defended its decision not to target Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman after a U.S. intelligence report linked the king to the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
“Historically and even in recent history, in democratic and republican administrations, there have been no sanctions applied to leaders of foreign governments where we have diplomatic relations and even where we have no diplomatic relations,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during an interview. on CNN’s “State of the Union” program.
“We believe that there are more effective ways to ensure that this does not happen again and also to leave space to work with the Saudis in areas where there is mutual agreement,” said Psaki.
“This is what diplomacy looks like. This is what complicated global involvement looks like and we don’t hide any secrets and make it clear that we will hold them accountable on the global stage,” said Psaki, adding that the government steps through the Treasury and the Department of State.
When he was running for president, Joe Biden said he would hold Saudi leaders accountable for Khashoggi’s death, calling the kingdom’s leadership “outcast” who had “very little social redeeming value”.
On Friday, the Treasury imposed sanctions on the Crown Prince’s security detachment, known as the Rapid Intervention Force. He also sanctioned the former deputy chief of the kingdom’s intelligence service, Ahmad Hassan Mohammed al-Asiri, who is accused of being the leader of the plot.
Meanwhile, the State Department has imposed visa restrictions on 76 Saudi individuals “believed to have been involved in threats to dissidents abroad, including, but not limited to, Khashoggi’s murder”.
Khashoggi, a 59-year-old United States resident and a widely known critic of the Saudi royal family, went to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018. He never showed up after the scheduled appointment. He was killed inside the Saudi government building and later dismembered. His remains were never recovered.
A man holds a poster of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi during a protest organized by members of the Turkish-Arab Media Association at the entrance to the Saudi Arabian consulate on October 8, 2018 in Istanbul, Turkey.
Chris McGrath | Getty Images News | Getty Images
When asked whether the Biden government would take further action, Psaki said the United States would recalibrate its relationship with Saudi Arabia in the wake of the Trump administration.
Earlier this month, Biden announced the end of US support for offensive operations in Yemen. Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have carried out attacks in Yemen against Houthis. The Saudi-led intervention in Yemen had previously had the support of former President Donald Trump’s government. And last month, Biden suspended sales of precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia to assess possible human rights abuses.
In the election campaign, then Vice President Biden criticized then President Donald Trump’s refusal to address the kingdom’s human rights abuses and the eagerness to sell more American-made weapons to royalty.
“I would make it very clear that we are not actually going to sell more weapons to them, we are actually going to make them pay the price,” Biden said during a Democratic presidential debate. “They have to be held accountable,” he added.
Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich monarchy is one of America’s most strategic partners and a significant patron of US defense companies. The Saudis are the main buyers of arms made in the United States, a title that protected the kingdom from retaliatory sanctions for the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the war led by the Saudis in Yemen.
Despite reports that Saudi Arabia was behind the attack, Trump said in a long statement that the United States would support Saudi Arabia.
U.S. President Donald Trump looks at Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammad bin Salman al-Saud as they line up for the family photo during the opening day of the 2018 Argentina G20 Leaders Summit on the Costa Salguero on November 30, 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Daniel Jayo | Getty Images
Throughout his presidency, Trump has often cited the importance of America’s relationship with Saudi Arabia, repeatedly refusing to approve significant economic or political consequences for Riyadh’s human rights abuses.
Trump had also said earlier that the U.S. defense industry would suffer a negative impact if his government sanctioned the Saudis for the assassination of Khashoggi.
“I tell you what I don’t want to do,” Trump told CBS “60 Minutes” when asked about the possible blockade of arms sales to Riyadh. “Boeing, Lockheed, Raytheon, all these [companies]. I don’t want to hurt jobs. I don’t want to miss an order like that. There are other ways to punish, to use a word that is very harsh, but it is true, “he said a month after Khashoggi’s disappearance.
Read More: Restrictions on arms sales to Saudi Arabia would likely have a limited impact on U.S. defense companies, says Cowen
The Biden government said earlier that it is reviewing US relations with Saudi Arabia and, unlike the previous government, the 35-year-old king is not seen as the president’s counterpart. Instead, Biden will conduct relations through the Crown Prince’s elderly father, King Salman, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken will conduct relations through the Foreign Minister.