WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump said Saturday he was not satisfiedwith Saudi Arabia’s response to a dissident journalist’s death, but warnedagainst scrapping a multibillion-dollar deal with the conservative kingdom.
Saudi Arabia has admitted that critic Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside itsIstanbul consulate after a physical altercation, in a major dialing back oftwo weeks of denials, but the whereabouts of his body remain unclear.
It said 18 Saudis have been arrested in connection with his death and twotop aides of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as well as three otherintelligence agents, have been sacked.
“It was a big first step. It was a good first step,” Trump said of the move.
“But I want to get to the answer.”
Yet Trump also warned against halting the massive arms deal with Riyadh,saying it would hurt American jobs, despite the international furor overKhashoggi’s death.
“We have $450 billion, $110 billion of which is a military order, but thisis equipment and various things ordered from Saudi Arabia,” Trump toldreporters.
“It’s over a million jobs; that’s not helpful for us to cancel an orderlike that. That hurts us far more than it hurts them,” he added, notingRiyadh could obtain the weapons from other countries like China or Russia.
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“But there are other things that could be done, including sanctions.”
Turkish officials have accused Riyadh of carrying out a state-sponsoredkilling and dismembering the body, which police have begun hunting for inan Istanbul forest.
Trump has said he found the explanation credible despite continuedskepticism from some US lawmakers, including Republicans.
The US president has said that Saudi Arabia is valued as a historiccustomer for the US weapons industry, and that the US also relies on thekingdom in the fight against terror.
But the controversy over Khashoggi’s death has blown up into a major crisisfor Crown Prince Mohammed, a Trump administration favorite widely known asMBS whose image as a modernizing Arab reformer has been gravely undermined.- APP/AFP
