In a filing in US District Court in Manhattan, lawyers representing Saudi Arabia claim the plaintiffs - who represent thousands of victims who died and were injured in the attacks, as well as businesses and insurers - cannot prove the Gulf kingdom supported the al-Qaeda-affiliated men who hijacked and crashed planes into New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon outside Washington, and a Pennsylvania field. Nearly 3,000 people died in the attacks.

Saudi Arabia also claimed it deserved sovereign immunity.

James Kreindler, a lawyer representing those killed in the September 11 attacks, told Reuters news agency the filing was "expected … We have tons of allegations of what many Saudis and the country's alter ego charities did. Saudi Arabia cannot hide from the facts."

Saudi Arabia's lawyers introduced several exhibits which they say support their claims. One such exhibit was an executive summary from the CIA dated to 2005, which says there was no evidence that Saudi Arabia supported the attackers.