The United States is focused on Saudi Arabia’s “future conduct” after rejecting sanctions against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to a State Department spokesman.
“We are very focused on future conduct, and that is part of why we have cast this not as a rupture but a recalibration,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Monday. “We are trying to get to the systemic issues underlying the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi.”
The Biden administration has declined to sanction bin Salman, known as MBS, for his involvement after the U.S. intelligence community assessed that MBS greenlighted the operation to assassinate Khashoggi, a 59-year-old Washington Post columnist and Saudi dissident.
However, the Treasury Department did impose sanctions against some of those believed to be involved in the dissident’s death, including visa bans.
BIDEN GIVES SAUDIS REBUKE AND REASSURANCE AHEAD OF KHASHOGGI REPORT
Earlier in his remarks, Price pointed out that one of the first foreign policy decisions that President Biden made was to end support for all offensive operations against the Houthi insurgency in Yemen, including related arms sales to Saudi Arabia. He stressed that the U.S. firmly condemns Khashoggi’s assassination but that Saudi Arabia remains a key regional ally.
“We seek a partnership that reflects our important work together, and our shared interests and priorities, but also one conducted with greater transparency, responsibility, and accord with America’s values,” he said. “Our intent is to make this partnership, which already spans some 80 years, even more sustainable going forward.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki had similar messaging about Saudi Arabia, which is a crucial counterbalance to Iranian influence in the Middle East, when asked about the lack of sanctions against the crown prince over the weekend.
“The United States has not historically sanctioned the leaders of countries where we have diplomatic relations, or even somewhere we don’t have diplomatic relations,” Psaki told Fox News. “Our objective here from the government, from the Biden administration, is preventing this from ever happening again.”
A report released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to the public last week said the U.S. intelligence community found that “Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.”
After Khashoggi was lured into the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, he was killed and reportedly dismembered by a team of assassins in October 2018. The incident sparked international outrage. Five people were sentenced to death in connection to Khashoggi’s killing, but a Saudi court reduced their sentences to 20 years in prison after being forgiven by his family. Three others also got lesser sentences.
Bin Salman has denied any involvement in the operation, although he has said he bears responsibility for the murder. After the intelligence report was released on Friday, the kingdom responded by saying the report was false.
“The Ministry notes that the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia completely rejects the negative, false and unacceptable assessment in the report pertaining to the Kingdom’s leadership, and notes that the report contained inaccurate information and conclusions,” the government said.
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Khashoggi’s widow, Hatice Cengiz, called for the 35-year-old prince to be punished for his actions in a statement released on Monday. She wrote that if MBS is not punished, “it will forever signal that the main culprit can get away with murder which will endanger us all and be a stain on our humanity.”
