ISLAMABAD – Norway announced on Friday that it was suspending new licensesfor arms exports to Saudi Arabia following recent developments in thePersian Gulf kingdom and the situation in Yemen.

‘We have decided that in the present situation, we will not give newlicenses for the export of defense material or multipurpose goods formilitary use to Saudi Arabia,’ Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide saidin a statement, quoted by Aljazeera news network.

While Khashoggi’s murder was not mentioned, the statement said the decisionhad been taken following ‘a broad assessment of recent developments inSaudi Arabia and the unclear situation in Yemen’.

The announcement came a week after Norway’s foreign minister summoned theSaudi ambassador to Oslo to protest Khashoggi’s assassination.