Senate resolutions

Saudis reject Senate resolutions on Khashoggi, Yemen

By CAITLIN OPRYSKO

The kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Monday denounced a pair of resolutions passed by the Senate last week that rebuked the Arab kingdom over its military campaign in Yemen and the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, labeling the resolutions an attempt to interfere in Saudi internal affairs based on “unsubstantiated claims and allegations.”

“The Kingdom categorically rejects any interference in its internal affairs, any and all accusations, in any manner, that disrespect its leadership ... and any attempts to undermine its sovereignty or diminish its stature,” the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Senate on Thursday agreed by unanimous consent to a resolution that formally blamed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for orchestrating Khashoggi’s murder. It also voted 56-41 to pass a resolution that would withdraw U.S. support for Saudi forces in the civil war in Yemen. Both pieces of legislation await action in the House, where Republican leaders have effectively blocked them from coming up for a vote.

The votes put a GOP-controlled Senate at odds with the Trump administration, which has argued that withdrawing support for Saudi coalition forces in Yemen would undermine peace talks there.

The Khashoggi resolution, too, is a direct rebuke of President Donald Trump, who has led his administration in backing the crown prince despite reports of CIA intelligence that overwhelmingly implicates the him in the plot to kill Khashoggi. The journalist, who wrote columns for The Washington Post and was a U.S. resident, was murdered inside a Saudi consulate in Istanbul last October.

Trump has claimed that there is no smoking-gun evidence linking the crown prince to the murder and has insisted that the Saudi-U.S. alliance is too important to compromise with tougher consequences for the kingdom.

The Saudi statement released Monday expressed disdain at the "blatant interferences" the monarchy said were contained in the resolutions, and the kingdom’s “concern regarding the positions that were expressed by members of an esteemed legislative body of an allied and friendly government, a government that the Kingdom … holds at the highest regard."

Still, Saudi Arabia vowed Monday that it will work to continue improving its relationship with the U.S., touting its role in helping the U.S. fight terrorism in the Middle East and its clout in global energy markets while pledging that it will continue to seek a diplomatic resolution to the civil war in Yemen.