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Tawiah Antwi February 26, 2021 2 minutes, 45 seconds
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The Biden administration released a long-secret intelligence report today concluding that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the operation that led to the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
But the White House chose not to penalize the crown prince directly, with one senior administration official noting that to do so would put the U.S. in an extremely “hostile” position in relation to Saudi Arabia, a key security partner in the region.
“We assess that Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi,” the report reads, deeming it “highly unlikely that Saudi officials would have carried out an operation of this nature without the Crown Prince's authorization.”
Still, the Biden administration’s actions are certain to reverberate across the Middle East and cast a shadow over the strained U.S.-Saudi relationship.
The Treasury Department unveiled sanctions on Saudi operatives alleged to have been involved, including members of the crown prince’s personal protective detail known as the Rapid Intervention Force. And the State Department announced a new policy called the Khashoggi Ban, which will allow the U.S. to restrict visas for those who target and harass journalists and dissidents. A second senior administration official described the policy as “another means to promote a measure of accountability” among bad actors.
Those moves were deemed insufficient, however, by many lawmakers as well as human rights activists, underscoring the difficulty President Biden and his aides face in trying to hold accountable the de facto leader of an important U.S. partner in the Middle East. It was a challenge that also faced former President Donald Trump, who chose to embrace the crown prince (who is often referred to by his initials, MBS) and refused to release the report despite a law mandating its disclosure. Link in bio for more.
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