US President Joe Biden has long attacked the Saudi-led coalition’s war in Yemen, calling for an end to hostilities. However, after becoming president, Biden has only taken minor measures to affect that war without applying major pressure to Riyadh.
A US State Department spokesperson said Monday that Washington would not issue a blanket ban on selling weapons to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The decision comes after the release of an intelligence dossier linking the monarchy to a prominent journalist’s assassination and amid the kingdom’s ongoing war in Yemen.
“The NSC [National Security Council] leads the process to evaluate proposed weapons transfers,” State Department spokesperson Edward Price said at a press briefing. “That’s the way it should be. They will be evaluated… on a case-by-case basis going forward.”
Last week, the Biden administration declassified a dossier from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence that found that Khashoggi’s killing in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, could not have happened without the knowledge and approval of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, who “has had absolute control of the kingdom’s security and intelligence organizations.”
The announcement also comes after Biden said he was ending US support for Riyadh’s offensive operations in Yemen, but not military support for Saudi Arabia overall. In early February, Biden paused several smart bomb sales to Saudi Arabia in the process of being approved, but left the door open to their future approval, as well as for support for operations that could be termed “defensive.”
Sourse: sputniknews.com
