US increases pressure on Saudis over terrorist funds

The Bush administration is stepping up pressure on Saudi Arabia to crack down on the financing of international terrorism – a step likely to worsen already strained ties between the US and the kingdom.

"Every nation around the world can do more, and that includes Saudi Arabia," Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman said yesterday.

He was responding to reports that Washington intends to present the Saudis with an ultimatum to act against suspected terrorist financiers within 90 days, or have the US do so unilaterally.

This friction follows allegations that charitable donations from the wife of Riyadh's ambassador to Washington may have found their way to two of the 11 September hijackers..

According to The Washington Post, a National Security Council taskforce is proposing the ultimatum to Mr Bush. The Saudis would be pressed to act even if there was not enough evidence against an individual to convict him in a court of law. The US, the Post said, has drawn up a list of nine suspected financiers of al-Qa'ida. Seven are Saudis.

Critics claim the Bush administration has ducked confronting the Saudis head-on in order not to alienate its biggest single oil supplier before a possible war with Iraq.