Iran: Saudi Arabia ‘wouldn’t dare’ kill Khashoggi without US protection

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday said Saudi Arabia wouldn’t “dare” to murder journalist Jamal Khashoggi unless it had the support of the United States.

Rouhani told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) that he doesn’t think a country “would dare commit such a crime” without the backing of the U.S., according to Reuters. 

{mosads}“No one would imagine that in today’s world and a new century that we would witness such an organized murder and a system would plan out such a heinous murder,” he said. “I don’t think that a country would dare commit such a crime without the protection of America.”

Rouhani also suggested that U.S. support of Saudi Arabia has enabled its rival to bomb civilians in the Yemen civil war. 

“If there was no American protection, would the people of Yemen still have faced the same brutal bombing?” Rouhani asked IRNA, according to Reuters.

Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post, died inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul after entering the consulate earlier this month. The Saudi government has said he died during a brawl, but that explanation has drawn widespread skepticism. It is suspected that Khashoggi was instead murdered inside the consulate.

President Trump, after originally saying he found the Saudi explanation to be credible, said Tuesday that the explanation was the “worst cover-up ever.” His administration also moved on Tuesday to punish the kingdom over the killing, though Trump has maintained that the U.S. shouldn’t halt its weapon sales to Saudi Arabia over the killing.