(Newswire.net — April 17, 2016) — Saudi Arabia threatens to sell $750 bn worth of US assets held by the Kingdom if the US Congress passes a bill that would allow the Saudi government to be sued over the 9/11 attacks, Business Insider reported.
If the bill passes, it would allow for the 9/11 victims to sue the Saudi government and demand compensation.
During his visit to the US last month, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir delivered a warning that Saudi Arabia would sell up to $750 billion in US treasury securities and other assets, which would hit the US economy hard.
Financial experts say the move is dubious as the Saudi national currency is linked to the US dollar, so the move to damage the US currency will hurt Saudi’s economy as well.
The 9/11 bill before US Congress should bypass the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 that says foreign nations have a degree of immunity from being sued in American courts. The Act is currently preventing the families of victims from suing the Saudi Royal family after alleged involvement in the 9/11 attacks.
Reportedly, 28 classified pages of the 2002 congressional report on 9/11 allegedly exposes the Saudi Arabian government’s involvement in financing the 9/11 attacks.
Fearing that other nations would pass similar legislation and target American citizens and corporations in their national courts, US president Barack Obama strongly opposed the 9/1 bill.
Ironically, sovereign immunity didn’t stop a US judge last month from ordering Iran to pay $10.5 billion in damages to families of the 9/11 victims. Although none of the 19 hijackers were Iranian citizens, the ruling was passed because Iran didn’t defend itself against the allegations, Russia Today reported.
US backed Saudi Arabia and Iran are major regional rivals, however, Washington’s relations with Riyadh chilled after the US government eased its stance on Teheran, participating in a deal to resolve the controversy over Iran’s nuclear program.