US “reserves right to take any action” against Saudi Arabia for murder of Jamal Khashoggi

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Monday that The United States reserves “the right to take any action when and how” it chooses against Saudi Arabia or Prince Mohammed bin Salman, for his involvement in the murder of the critical journalist Jamal Khashoggi, collected in a document of the American secret services.

At Monday’s press conference, at the request of reporters, Psaki insisted that “historically”, The United States has not sanctioned “the leaders of the government of countries with which it has diplomatic relations.”

Psaki, who remembered that Biden has previously condemned the crime as “horrible”, assured that the Administration has already adopted “A series of strong measures to be imposed on those directly involved in the operation” which led to the murder of the journalist at the Turkish Embassy in Saudi Arabia.

Among these sanctions, he highlighted those imposed on a senior Saudi intelligence official, Ahmad al Asiri, and against all Rapid Intervention Force -a unit of the Royal Guard-, in an action aimed at “the responsible network” to prevent “A crime like this will happen again.”

Although he did not directly sanction the crown prince, Psaki insisted, after questions from reporters about why Bin Salmán was not sanctioned, that “From day one” of the Biden administration, they made it clear that they would “recalibrate” relations with Saudi Arabia.

He also defended that These measures were taken following advice from the security teams, being the best course of action, based on your recommendations.

“Global diplomacy requires holding countries accountable when necessary, but also act in the national interest of the United States, and that’s exactly what the president is trying to do, ”the spokesperson said.

RAPID RESPONSE FORCE DISSOLUTION

For his part, the spokesperson for the State Department, Ned Prize, asked Saudi Arabia to disband rapid reaction force – which was sanctioned -, a unit of the Saudi Royal Guard which participated in operations against dissent, “including the operation which led to the brutal murder of Khashoggi ”.

According to the US intelligence report revealed on Friday, this unit “exists to protect the crown prince, it only answers him and it already participated directly, before Khashoggi’s death, in the operations of silence dissidents in the kingdom and abroad by order of the crown prince ”.

He also called on the Saudi authorities to adopt institutional reforms and controls and systemic to “ensure that activities and operations against dissidents cease and are completely stopped”.

Price called the journalist’s murder “unacceptable”. and reiterated their commitment to enforce the Khashoggi ban, a policy with which the United States intends to sanction and punish those who threaten dissidents and journalists.

The State Department spokesperson also said that relationship with Saudi Arabia “important” to US interests and “continuous progress and reform” is needed to ensure that this partnership is built on solid foundations and continues to advance common goals.

This association is so “important” because Saudi Arabia is “an extremely influential country in the Arab world and beyond”, so what happens there “will have and will have had profound implications far beyond” its borders.

“There is no doubt that the decisions taken by Riyadh will have enormous implications for the region and for countries in the region and those outside the region, including the United States,” Price added.

In this sense, he insisted on the fact that the said association This will only be possible if Saudi Arabia “respects the values ​​of the United States”.

That same Monday, the United Nations rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard, urged the United States to impose sanctions on the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed ben salman, while the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to the UN, Abdullah al MualimiHe replied that “the prince courageously accepted his moral responsibility”.

Khashoggi, a journalist critical of the Saudi royal house and working for The Washington Post, He disappeared on October 2, 2018 after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to process some documents from his marriage. Saudi Arabia has prosecuted more than a dozen people, Without being able to locate the remains of Khashoggi yet.

(With information from Europa Press)

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