Young comments on Saudi-Arabia

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Indiana Senator Todd Young says Saudi Arabia’s bad behavior goes far beyond the possible murder of a Saudi-American journalist.

Saudi Arabia has been propping up Yemen’s government in that country’s three-year civil war with Iranian-backed rebels. Young has repeatedly blasted the Saudis for human rights violations, from bombing civilians to setting off a famine by blockading a key port. The United Nations has called the war the world’s worst current humanitarian crisis.

Young has called on Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to cancel a planned visit to Saudi Arabia, and says the U-S should keep all options open for punishing the Saudis’ behavior. He notes he opposed high-tech weapons sales to Saudi Arabia months ago, and says there’s growing support in Congress to block a planned sale following the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The U-S resident and Indiana State graduate was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Turkey to deal with paperwork for his upcoming wedding. Turkey says it has evidence Saudi agents killed and dismembered him.

Young declines to call Saudi Arabia an American ally, instead calling the kingdom “a complicated partner.” He says Saudi threats of retaliation shouldn’t stop the U-S from taking a firm stand that starvation as a weapon of war won’t be tolerated.