US top diplomat Mike Pompeo met Saudi King Salman and the crown prince on Tuesday seeking to defuse a crisis over missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi, with American officials saying Riyadh had agreed on the need for a thorough investigation.
The urgent talks came after US President Donald Trump dispatched Pompeo to the Gulf kingdom amid a growing international outcry about Khashoggi’s disappearance.
He has not been seen since he walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to sort out marriage papers.
Rogue killers could be to blame, Trump said after telephone talks on Monday with the king.
After first meeting the king, Pompeo held separate talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir and powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
“We are strong and old allies. We face our challenges together,” the crown prince said as he warmly welcomed Pompeo at the palace.
“The secretary and the foreign minister agreed on the importance of a thorough, transparent and timely investigation,” US state department spokesperson Heather Nauert said later.
Turkish police on Monday searched the consulate for the first time since the disappearance of Khashoggi, a Saudi national and US resident who had become increasingly critical of Prince Mohammed.
Turkish officials have said they believe Khashoggi was killed – a claim Saudi Arabia has denied – with the controversy dealing a huge blow to the prince’s efforts to showcase a reform drive and burnish the kingdom’s image.
US media reported on Monday that the oil-rich kingdom is considering an admission that Khashoggi died after an interrogation that went wrong during an intended abduction.
The UN human rights chief called on Tuesday for the lifting of the immunity of officials who might be involved in Khashoggi’s disappearance.
Due to the seriousness of the case “I believe the inviolability or immunity of the relevant premises and officials should be waived immediately”, Michelle Bachelet said.
The investigators, who searched the premises for eight hours, took samples with them, including soil from the consulate garden, an official at the scene said.
Istanbul police are now also planning to search the nearby consul’s residence.
Trump’s comments came after a telephone conversation with King Salman, father of the crown prince, the first such talks since the crisis erupted.
“Just spoke to the King of Saudi Arabia, who denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened ‘to our Saudi Arabian citizen’,” he tweeted.
“The denial was very, very strong,” Trump said.
“It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers.
“Who knows?”
But CNN cited two sources as saying the Saudis are preparing a report that his death resulted from a botched interrogation, while the Wall Street Journal said the kingdom was weighing whether to say that rogue operatives killed Khashoggi by mistake.
After his crunch talks in Riyadh on Tuesday, Pompeo was expected in Turkey on Wednesday to meet Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.
The controversy has troubled Saudi Arabia’s traditional Western allies, who are key arms suppliers to the kingdom, and also undermined efforts by Mohammed bin Salman to present himself as a modernising ruler.
An investment conference seen as a platform for the crown prince and dubbed the “Davos in the Desert”, set to take place in Riyadh next week, has been hit by a string of prominent cancellations.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Ford chair Bill Ford and Larry Fink, the head of investment giant BlackRock, were among the latest barons to cancel plans to attend.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he still planned to attend but would take into account if more information came out.
Trump has threatened the kingdom with severe punishment if it is shown that Khashoggi was killed inside its Istanbul mission.
Britain, France and Germany also released a rare joint statement calling for a credible and full investigation into the disappearance of Khashoggi.- AFP
US seeks to defuse crisis over missing journo
Image: REUTERS/Murad Sezer/File Photo
US top diplomat Mike Pompeo met Saudi King Salman and the crown prince on Tuesday seeking to defuse a crisis over missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi, with American officials saying Riyadh had agreed on the need for a thorough investigation.
The urgent talks came after US President Donald Trump dispatched Pompeo to the Gulf kingdom amid a growing international outcry about Khashoggi’s disappearance.
He has not been seen since he walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to sort out marriage papers.
Rogue killers could be to blame, Trump said after telephone talks on Monday with the king.
After first meeting the king, Pompeo held separate talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir and powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
“We are strong and old allies. We face our challenges together,” the crown prince said as he warmly welcomed Pompeo at the palace.
“The secretary and the foreign minister agreed on the importance of a thorough, transparent and timely investigation,” US state department spokesperson Heather Nauert said later.
Turkish police on Monday searched the consulate for the first time since the disappearance of Khashoggi, a Saudi national and US resident who had become increasingly critical of Prince Mohammed.
Turkish officials have said they believe Khashoggi was killed – a claim Saudi Arabia has denied – with the controversy dealing a huge blow to the prince’s efforts to showcase a reform drive and burnish the kingdom’s image.
US media reported on Monday that the oil-rich kingdom is considering an admission that Khashoggi died after an interrogation that went wrong during an intended abduction.
The UN human rights chief called on Tuesday for the lifting of the immunity of officials who might be involved in Khashoggi’s disappearance.
Due to the seriousness of the case “I believe the inviolability or immunity of the relevant premises and officials should be waived immediately”, Michelle Bachelet said.
The investigators, who searched the premises for eight hours, took samples with them, including soil from the consulate garden, an official at the scene said.
Istanbul police are now also planning to search the nearby consul’s residence.
Trump’s comments came after a telephone conversation with King Salman, father of the crown prince, the first such talks since the crisis erupted.
“Just spoke to the King of Saudi Arabia, who denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened ‘to our Saudi Arabian citizen’,” he tweeted.
“The denial was very, very strong,” Trump said.
“It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers.
“Who knows?”
But CNN cited two sources as saying the Saudis are preparing a report that his death resulted from a botched interrogation, while the Wall Street Journal said the kingdom was weighing whether to say that rogue operatives killed Khashoggi by mistake.
After his crunch talks in Riyadh on Tuesday, Pompeo was expected in Turkey on Wednesday to meet Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.
The controversy has troubled Saudi Arabia’s traditional Western allies, who are key arms suppliers to the kingdom, and also undermined efforts by Mohammed bin Salman to present himself as a modernising ruler.
An investment conference seen as a platform for the crown prince and dubbed the “Davos in the Desert”, set to take place in Riyadh next week, has been hit by a string of prominent cancellations.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Ford chair Bill Ford and Larry Fink, the head of investment giant BlackRock, were among the latest barons to cancel plans to attend.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he still planned to attend but would take into account if more information came out.
Trump has threatened the kingdom with severe punishment if it is shown that Khashoggi was killed inside its Istanbul mission.
Britain, France and Germany also released a rare joint statement calling for a credible and full investigation into the disappearance of Khashoggi.- AFP
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