Iran Press/ America: The US Senate has passed two anti-Saudi resolutions, with one resolution placing the blame for murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, squarely at the feet of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Khashoggi was brutally killed and dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Iran Press reported.
The resolution demands that Riyadh “ensure appropriate accountability” in this case. The move came just minutes after the senators passed a separate motion calling on the US to stop any aid to the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen.
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The US Senate also has voted to stop US armed forces from supporting Saudi Arabia in its military aggression against its impoverished southern neighbor, Yemen.
The historic bipartisan vote on Thursday, for the first time, invoked Congress' war powers to challenge US military involvement abroad despite the Trump administration's unwavering support for the Saudi regime in its aggression against Yemen.
The 56-to-41 vote by the Democrats and some Republicans was both a condemnation of the Saudi-led war on Yemen – which has killed thousands of civilians and created a humanitarian crisis – and another rebuke to US President Donald Trump for his all-out support for the Saudi regime and its disgraced Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who allegedly ordered the murder of US-based dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The Senate called the situation in the war-ravaged country a “humanitarian crisis” and demanded all parties seek an immediate ceasefire. It is yet unclear whether the House would vote on any of the motions after they had passed the Senate.
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Riyadh has denied that Saudi crown prince had any prior knowledge of the killing. However, some Saudi high-ranking officials, including Saudi crown prince’s former communications chief, Saud al-Qahtani, have been fired following the murder. Five members of the hit squad that allegedly executed the murder are facing the death sentence in Saudi Arabia.
A half-dozen Republican senators joined all the chamber's Democrats in passing the unprecedented resolution against Trump.
Republicans senators disagreeing with the move all cast no votes.
The vote approved a resolution that will require US forces to stop providing US intelligence, targeting assistance in bombing, and other military support to the Saudi-led campaign against the Yemeni nation.
Some analysts described the Senate resolution as a direct challenge to president Donald Trump.
Proponents of the resolution maintain that US forces involvement in the Yemen war was unauthorized, unconstitutional and immoral.
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