Details of the sale have yet to be released, the US senator said. (File)
Washington:
The administration of President Donald Trump wants to sell arms to Saudi Arabia again, a year after entering into a controversial $ 8.1 billion contract despite opposition from Congress, an influential U.S. senator said on Wednesday.
“The administration is currently trying to sell thousands of other precision-guided bombs to the president’s” friend “, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman,” New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez said in an editorial. published online by CNN.
The government wants to close the sale, the details of which have not yet been made public, “even if the Saudis apparently want to get out of their failed and brutal war in Yemen,” he added.
Menendez, the first Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Commission, recalled how the previous contract for the sale of various weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had been blocked by Congress after the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi .
US intelligence concluded that the murder had been ordered by the crown prince, “a capricious Saudi despot who believes he can massacre his critics without consequence,” Menendez wrote.
When Congress blocked the sale last year, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo invoked an obscure “emergency” procedure to get it through.
“Today, a year later, there is no reason why the United States should sell bombs to Saudi Arabia,” said Menendez.
“This is why I am particularly disturbed by the fact that the State Department has again refused to explain the need to sell thousands of additional bombs to Saudi Arabia in addition to the thousands that have not yet been sold. delivered from last year’s emergency, “he said.
He called on Congress to block the new sale.
Trump recently fired State Department Inspector General Steve Linick, who was investigating Pompeo’s conduct during the previous deal.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
