In a last-ditch effort to preserve U.S. backing for the Saudi-led operation in Yemen, Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) on Thursday introduced two amendments intended to weaken a Senate War Powers Resolution that called for an end to American involvement.
Iranian-backed forces in Yemen are demanding the reopening of the country’s international airport, a stumbling block in tense negotiations taking place this week between warring factions in Sweden, according to U.S officials and Western sources on the ground who told the Washington Free Beacon this demand by Iran’s Houthi rebels would allow Tehran to continue importing weapons and militants in an area of the Middle East that leaves Israel vulnerable to attack.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday released a statement about the importance of standing with Saudi Arabia amid ongoing questions concerning Jamal Khashoggi’s death, saying the partnership is vital to pursing “national interests and vigorously contesting countries that wish to do us harm.”
Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) is encouraging the Senate to suspend U.S. arms sales to Bahrain, an American ally, as it serves on behalf of a Saudi military coalition battling against Iranian-backed militias in Yemen, according to a copy of a letter being hand-delivered to offices on Capitol Hill and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
Regional experts are warning against knee-jerk calls to pull American support from the Saudi-led alliance battling Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen amid heightened congressional scrutiny of the U.S. relationship with the Gulf kingdom.
The Treasury Department on Tuesday announced steps taken in cooperation with the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center (TFTC) to “expose and disrupt Taliban actors and their Iranian sponsors that seek to undermine the security of the Afghan Government.”
