Iran Press/America: Senator Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the Senate could vote before the end of the year on a resolution seeking to cut off all assistance to Saudi Arabia for the war in Yemen.
He said it was also possible that measures to prevent arms sales to Riyadh would make it to the Senate floor.
“Senators are looking for some way to show Saudi Arabia the disdain they have for what has happened, with the journalist, but also concerns about the way Yemen has gone,” Corker told Reuters as lawmakers returned to Washington for the first time since last week’s congressional elections.
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Democrats aim to punish Saudi Arabia over Khashoggi
The killing of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Turkey has heightened concerns in Congress about the Riyadh government, already raised by the war in Yemen, particularly over civilians killed in Saudi airstrikes.
Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi opposition journalist was killed inside the country’s consulate in Istanbul on 2 October 2018, that led to a major international outcry against Riyadh.
“It would be very hard, if a weapons sale came up, to keep it from being undone, at least in the Senate,” Corker said.
Corker said his staff had asked that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and CIA Director Gina Haspel come to the Capitol as soon as late November for a classified briefing to address concerns about Yemen and Khashoggi’s death.
Republicans kept control of the Senate in the Nov. 6 elections but lost their majority in the House of Representatives to Democrats.
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Republicans will remain in charge of the House until the new Congress is seated in January, however, and voted on Tuesday to stop legislation in committee that would have ended US support for the war in Yemen.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi signaled that things could change when Democrats take over, if not before.
“Real, immediate action must be taken by Congress to end this horrific humanitarian crisis,” she said in a statement.
The Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights announced on March 25 the war had left 600,000 civilians dead and injured until then
Saudi Arabia and its allies launched the war on Yemen in March 2015 to reinstall the former Saudi-backed Hadi regime and crush the Houthi movement.
The Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights announced in a statement on March 25 that the war had left 600,000 civilians dead and injured until then. The war and an accompanying blockade have also caused famine across Yemen. 101/210
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