Washington, Oct 11 (IANS) US President Donald Trump called the deadly attack on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport “terrible” and said he would speak to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as Washington condemned the strike that killed 12 people, including an American.
“I think it’s terrible,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews after returning from a campaign rally in Tennessee, when asked about the attack.
Pressed on a US response, he said, “Well, you’re gonna find out, see, but I think it’s terrible.”
Asked whether he had spoken to the Crown Prince on the flight back, Trump said, “No, but I will be speaking to him and what happened in Saudi Arabia is not acceptable.”
Asked whether the Saudis could defend themselves, he said, “They’re able to defend. Look, the Saudis are good fighters, but I think the attack was a terrible thing.”
On whether Washington was talking to the Houthis, Trump said, “We have communication with the Houthis and we’ll see what happens.”
Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation said 12 people were killed and 309 injured in the attack.
The dead included four Saudi citizens, two Bangladeshi nationals and one person each from the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Sudan, the authority said. No Indian national was listed among the dead.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States “strongly condemns the recent attacks on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by the terrorist Houthis, including today’s strike on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh that took numerous innocent lives, including an American citizen.”
“These reprehensible attacks demonstrate a blatant disregard for innocent civilian life. They must stop now,” Rubio wrote on X.
Trump also said on Saturday that he was evaluating whether the US should join Saudi strikes against the Houthis, the Associated Press reported. “We may. We’re going to look at it,” he said.
Asked at Andrews why he did not declare victory in Iran, Trump said, “We could leave right now, but we have to guarantee that they can’t have it in the future,” referring to a nuclear weapon.
At the Tennessee rally, he had said of Iran, “It’s sort of calming down. They’ll probably do a little bit extra before the election thinking it’s gonna hurt us, but we could end it really quick.”
The Saudi civil aviation authority did not assign blame for the attack. Saudi-led coalition officials and a diplomatic source blamed the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, who had claimed earlier strikes on the airport this week but did not immediately claim Saturday’s attack.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply shocked by” the attack. “Attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure are a violation of international law. These attacks must cease immediately,” he said.
India has a direct stake in the escalation. The Indian community in Saudi Arabia numbers about 2.74 million.
The Ministry of External Affairs condemned the earlier Houthi strikes on Abha International Airport and King Khalid International Airport, saying “the targeting of civilian infrastructure is completely unacceptable.”
–IANS
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