BICOM

US President Donald Trump promised to strengthen the US-Saudi alliance, despite admitting that Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman may have known about Jamal Khashoggi’s killing.

In a written statement released yesterday by the White House, President Trump said America plans to remain a “steadfast partner” of the kingdom despite the “terrible crime” against Khashoggi that “our country does not condone”. The President acknowledged Crown Prince Salman “could very well” have known about Khashoggi’s murder, saying US intelligence agencies “continue to assess all information.” He added that “in any case, our relationship is with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”.

President Trump said he had no intention of cancelling $110bn of military contracts with Riyadh, saying: “If we foolishly cancel these contracts, Russia and China would be the enormous beneficiaries.” He said Saudi Arabia has spent “billions of dollars in leading the fight against radical islamic terrorism,” whereas Iran has “killed many Americans and other innocent people throughout the Middle East”.

Speaking at the US State Department on Tuesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo backed up President Trump’s written statement, saying the US needed to keep the kingdom as an ally because “it’s a mean, nasty world out there”.

The statement was criticised by some US Senators. The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) tweeted: “I never thought I’d see the day a White House would moonlight as a public relations firm for the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.” South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said: “It is not in our national security interests to look the other way when it comes to the brutal murder of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi.”

In March, the US Senate rejected a bill to curtail weapons sales to Saudi Arabia because of its involvement in Yemen. Despite opposing the legislation then, Sen. Graham has pledged to “sanction the hell out of Saudi Arabia”. Sen. Graham has also called Crown Prince Salman “too toxic … he can never be a leader on the world stage”.

Before his visit to Saudi Arabia last week, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said “the international community remains united in horror and outrage at the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi one month ago. It is clearly unacceptable that the full circumstances behind his murder still remain unclear. We encourage the Saudi authorities to co-operate fully with the Turkish investigation into his death, so that we deliver justice for his family and the watching world.”