Trump team explains Saudi support

Margin in Senate vote not high enough to override potential veto by president

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday again defended US ties with Saudi Arabia on national security grounds after the Senate voted Thursday to end support to the kingdom’s war in Yemen.

“We certainly have great respect for what the legislative branch does and we’re in constant contact with members on Capitol Hill so we understand their concerns,” Pompeo said.

He said the administration was trying “our level best to articulate why our policies are what they are and how we can ensure the right policy for the United States of America and to keep our country safe.”

He said there was a “real risk to the United States of America” from Iran, which is allied with Al Houthi militiamen who control Yemen’s capital Sana’a.

The Senate voted to invoke the Vietnam War-era War Powers Act, which reasserts the power of Congress rather than the White House to enter armed conflict.

But the House of Representatives has not yet voted and the margin in the Senate vote was not high enough to override a potential veto by Trump.

Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, joining Pompeo in the joint news conference with their Canadian counterparts, noted that the Senate vote came amid progress in Yemen peace talks.

Mattis said the US contributed to the diplomatic effort in “ending that war that has gone on too long.”

AP An excavation worker stands at the recently uncovered tomb of the royal purification priest named ‘Wahtye’, from the reign of King Nefer Ir-Ka-Re about 4,400 years ago, at the site of the step pyramid of Saqqara in Giza, Egypt, yesterday. Saqqara served as the necropolis for Memphis, the capital of ancient Egypt for more than two millennia.