Tag Archives: Saudi Arabia

Netanyahu condemns Khashoggi killing but keeps focus on Iran

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem October 28, 2018. Oded Balilty/Pool via REUTERS

SOFIA (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday condemned the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul but said the bigger problem facing the region was Iran.

Netanyahu made the comments during a news conference in the Bulgarian city of Varna, where he met the Bulgarian, Greek, Romanian and Serbian leaders.

His remarks followed similar comments made earlier in the day by a senior Israeli minister.

(Reporting by Tsvetalia Tsolova; Editing by Alison Williams)

Erdogan adviser said Khashoggi’s body was dismembered and dissolved: newspaper

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – An adviser to Turkey’s president has said the team that killed prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul cut up his body in order to dissolve for easier disposal, the newspaper Hurriyet reported on Friday.

Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist critical of the Saudi government and its de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, disappeared after he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul exactly one month go on Oct. 2.

The Saudi government initially insisted Khashoggi had left the consulate, later saying he died in an unplanned “rogue operation”. Last week, the kingdom’s public prosecutor Saud Al Mojeb said the attack was premeditated.

Istanbul chief prosecutor Irfan Fidan said this week that Khashoggi was suffocated as soon as he entered the consulate, and his body was then cut up and disposed of.

Turkey has demanded that Saudi authorities tell them where the body is.

But Yasin Aktay, who advises President Tayyip Erdogan and was a friend of Khashoggi’s, told Hurriyet newspaper that the corpse was disposed of by dismembering and dissolving it.

“According to the latest information we have, the reason they dismembered his body is to dissolve it easier.”

This was the first time this detail has been mentioned. There was no immediate comment on the report from Turkish officials.

The kingdom has faced a torrent of international condemnation over the murder of Khashoggi, upending the young crown prince’s image as a reformer on the international stage.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said Saudi authorities staged the “worst cover-up ever” but has also made more conciliatory remarks that highlight Riyadh’s role as a U.S. ally against Iran and Islamist militants, as well as a purchaser of U.S. arms.

On Thursday, U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Robert Palladino told reporters Khashoggi’s remains should be located and returned to his family for a burial as soon as possible.

Khashoggi had entered the consulate to get some papers he needed to marry his Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz, who waited for him outside for hours before she alerted Turkish authorities.

“No matter how long I waited, the joyful Jamal did not return. All that came was news of his death,” Cengiz wrote in an op-ed widely published on Friday.

Cengiz praised Turkey’s investigation efforts and called on the United States to lead the way to bring perpetrators to justice.

(Reporting by Sarah Dadouch and Ezgi Erkoyun; Editing by Daren Butler and Angus MacSwan)

Istanbul prosecutor says Khashoggi was suffocated in Saudi consulate

A security staff member stands at the entrance of Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul, Turkey October 31, 2018. REUTERS/Osman Orsal

By Ece Toksabay and Ali Kucukgocmen

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Istanbul’s chief prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was suffocated in a premeditated killing as soon as he entered Saudi Arabia’s consulate four weeks ago, and his body was then dismembered and disposed of.

In a statement issued after two days of talks with Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor Saud al-Mojeb, it also said no concrete results were reached in those meetings.

Khashoggi’s death has escalated into a crisis for Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, which at first denied any knowledge of or role in his disappearance on Oct. 2.

Mojeb later said Khashoggi’s killing was premeditated and Riyadh said 18 suspects had been arrested. But Turkey, which released a stream of evidence undermining Riyadh’s early denials, has demanded more details including the whereabouts of Khashoggi’s body and who ordered his killing.

“Despite our well-intentioned efforts to reveal the truth, no concrete results have come out of those meetings,” the Istanbul prosecutor’s office said of the talks on Monday and Tuesday between Mojeb and Istanbul chief prosecutor Irfan Fidan.

The killing of Khashoggi, a critic of de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has put into focus the West’s close relationship with Saudi Arabia – a major arms buyer and lynchpin of Washington’s regional plans to contain Iran.

Riyadh’s European allies have criticized its initial response and U.S. President Donald Trump said Saudi authorities had staged the “worst cover-up ever”, although he has repeatedly said he would not jeopardize U.S. business with the kingdom.

Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan, who has demanded more information from Saudi Arabia, said on Tuesday Fidan had asked Mojeb to disclose who sent a 15-strong team from Riyadh which is suspected of involvement in the killing.

The prosecutor’s statement said Fidan also repeated Ankara’s request for the 18 suspects to be extradited to face trial in Turkey, and asked Mojeb to disclose the identity of a “local cooperator” who, according to a Saudi official, disposed of Khashoggi’s body.

In a written response, Mojeb invited Fidan to Saudi Arabia to question the suspects and determine “the fate of the body” and establish whether the killing was premeditated, the Turkish prosecutor’s statement said.

It said Mojeb’s response also distanced Riyadh from the idea that a “local cooperator” had been involved, saying that Saudi authorities had not made an official statement to that effect.

Mojeb left Turkey on Wednesday evening after a three-day visit during which he also held talks at the offices of Turkey’s National Intelligence Agency (MIT).

Turkey’s relations with Saudi Arabia were strained last year when Ankara sent troops to the Gulf state of Qatar in a show of support after its Gulf neighbors, including Saudi Arabia, imposed an embargo on Doha.

Erdogan’s government has pressed Riyadh to conclude its investigation as soon as possible. “The whole truth must be revealed,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said this week.

Erdogan has also called on Saudi Arabia to disclose who ordered Khashoggi’s killing. “There is no point in procrastinating or trying to save some people from under this,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Ece Toksabay and Ali Kucukgocmen; Editing by Dominic Evans and Angus MacSwan)

Saudi-led coalition masses troops near Yemen’s Hodeidah as pressure mounts to end war

FILE PHOTO: Protesters hold up a poster of Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi during a protest against the deteriorating economy in Taiz, Yemen, October 4, 2018. REUTERS/Anees Mahyoub/File Photo

By Mohammed Ghobari

ADEN (Reuters) – The Saudi-led coalition has massed thousands of troops near Yemen’s main port city of Hodeidah, local military sources said on Wednesday, in a move to pressure Iranian-aligned Houthi insurgents to return to U.N.-sponsored peace talks.

The United States and Britain have called for an end to the 3-1/2-year war that has driven impoverished Yemen to the verge of famine, raising pressure on Saudi Arabia as it faces a global outcry over the murder of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

The military alliance of Sunni Muslim states led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates has deployed around 30,000 forces south of Houthi-held Hodeidah and near its eastern entrance, pro-coalition Yemeni military sources told Reuters.

“Thousands of Yemeni soldiers trained by the coalition have been sent to the outskirts of Hodeidah in addition to modern weaponry including armored vehicles and tanks…in preparation for a big operation in coming days,” said one source.

Residents told Reuters that the Houthis had also deployed forces in the center of Hodeidah city, at the port and in southern neighborhoods in anticipation of an onslaught.

The coalition and the Houthis have not commented on the military movements.

The U.N. special envoy to Yemen is trying to salvage peace talks that collapsed in September, raising the risk of a renewed assault on the Red Sea city, the country’s main port and a lifeline for millions of Yemenis reliant on humanitarian aid.

Envoy Martin Griffiths welcomed a call by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday for a cessation of hostilities ahead of U.N.-led negotiations scheduled to begin next month.

Britain also endorsed the U.S. call to end the fighting, which has killed more than 10,000 people, according to available U.N. figures, and triggered the world’s most urgent humanitarian crisis.

“We remain committed to bring the Yemeni parties to the negotiations table within a month. Dialogue remains the only path to reach an inclusive agreement,” Griffiths said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

“I urge all concerned parties to seize this opportunity to engage constructively with our current efforts to swiftly resume political consultations to agree on a framework for political negotiations, and confidence-building measures,” he said, listing support for the central bank and a prisoner swap.

DIRE SITUATION

The Western-backed Arab alliance intervened in Yemen’s war, widely seen as a proxy conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran, in 2015 to restore the internationally recognized government.

But after seizing the southern port city of Aden and some towns on the western coast, the alliance has made little gains in a costly war to unseat the Houthis, who hold the most populous parts of Yemen including the capital Sanaa.

The United Nations aid chief told the Security Council earlier this month that half the population of Yemen – some 14 million people – could soon be on the brink of famine.

Aid groups warned of deteriorating conditions in the Arabian Peninsula country.

“The recent increase in military activity in…Hodeidah threatens the security of our life-saving operations,” World Food Programme spokesman Herve Verhoosel said on Wednesday.

He said the WFP has enough cereals to assist 6.4 million of the neediest Yemenis for 2-1/2 months, with the aim to reach 8 million.

Red Cross spokeswoman Sara Alzawqari said that an estimated 3,200 families – some 22,000-28,000 people – were in dire need of basic necessities including food, water and shelter in Hodeidah, many having fled fighting in rural areas.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia have repeatedly said that taking control of Hodeidah would force the Houthi movement to the negotiating table by cutting off its main supply line.

But a previous offensive on the heavily-defended city in June failed to accomplish any gains and the coalition halted the fighting to give U.N. peace talks in Geneva a chance.

The talks were abandoned when the Houthi delegation failed to show up. The Houthis accused the coalition of blocking the group’s team from traveling, while the Yemeni government accused the Houthis of trying to sabotage the negotiations.

(Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; Writing by Ghaida Ghantous; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Turkey presses Saudi to say who sent Khashoggi killers: Erdogan

Saudi public prosecutor Saud Al Mojeb leaves from Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul, Turkey October 30, 2018. REUTERS/Kemal Aslan

By Gulsen Solaker

ANKARA (Reuters) – The Turkish lawyer looking into the death of Jamal Khashoggi has asked Saudi Arabia’s prosecutor to disclose who sent the team involved in the journalist’s killing, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.

Saudi prosecutor Saud Al Mojeb held talks with Istanbul’s prosecutor on Monday and Tuesday about Khashoggi’s death in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, which has escalated into a crisis for the world’s top oil exporter.

Riyadh at first denied any knowledge of or role in, his disappearance four weeks ago but Mojeb has contradicted those statements, saying the killing of Khashoggi, a critic of de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was premeditated.

The case has put into focus the West’s close relationship with Saudi Arabia – a major arms buyer and lynchpin of Washington’s regional plans to contain Iran – given the widespread skepticism over its initial response.

Turkey has kept up the pressure on the Saudis, demanding a full explanation and releasing a steady flow of evidence which undermined Riyadh’s early denials.

Saudi Arabia says that 18 suspects in the case will face justice in the kingdom, despite repeated calls from Ankara for them to be extradited for trial in Turkey.

“Yesterday, our prosecutor told the Saudi prosecutor that the prosecution could be carried out in Turkey since the location of the crime is Istanbul,” Erdogan told reporters at Turkey’s parliament.

Saudi officials also needed to disclose who had sent a 15-strong team to Istanbul to carry out the operation targeting Khashoggi, as well as the identity of a local agent said to have helped dispose of his body.

“Our prosecutor asked who sent the group that came here and said that this needed to be looked at,” Erdogan said. “Saudi officials need to reveal the local cooperators. Let us know whoever this person is and we will find them.

“We cannot leave this issue unsolved, we need to solve it now. There is no point in procrastinating or trying to save some people from under this.”

Saudi prosecutor Mojeb held talks with Istanbul’s chief prosecutor, Irfan Fidan, at Istanbul’s main courthouse for a second time on Tuesday before heading for the consulate where Khashoggi was killed, Turkish broadcaster NTV reported.

On Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called on Riyadh to conclude the investigation as soon as possible.

“The whole truth must be revealed,” he said. “We believe (Mujeb’s) visit is important for these truths to come out.”

(Additional reporting by Daren Butler in Istanbul and Tuvan Gumrukcu in Ankara; Editing by Dominic Evans, Richard Balmforth)

Khashoggi fiancee: Riyadh responsible for his murder, must explain

Hatice Cengiz, fiancee of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, is seen during an interview with Reuters in London, Britain, October 29, 2018. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

By Guy Faulconbridge

LONDON (Reuters) – The fiancée of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has said Saudi authorities are responsible for his murder, and the kingdom should give more details so that those responsible can be brought to justice.

The death of Khashoggi – a Washington Post columnist and a critic of Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – sparked global outrage and pitched the world’s top oil exporter into crisis.

When asked who was ultimately responsible for the killing, his fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, told Reuters in Turkish: “This took place inside a Saudi diplomatic mission … In such circumstances, the Saudi Arabian authorities are responsible for this.”

FILE PHOTO: Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi speaks at an event hosted by Middle East Monitor in London Britain, September 29, 2018. Middle East Monitor/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

FILE PHOTO: Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi speaks at an event hosted by Middle East Monitor in London Britain, September 29, 2018. Middle East Monitor/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

“This incident, this assassination, took place in the Saudi consulate,” she said, speaking through a translator. “So the Saudi authorities probably know how such a murder took place.”

“They need to explain what happened.”

Khashoggi, 59, entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 to obtain paperwork necessary for his upcoming marriage to Cengiz, a Turkish national. He did not walk out of the consulate. Cengiz first raised the alarm.

Asked if she held Crown Prince Mohammed or the Saudi royal family responsible, she said:

“I and my government would like all those responsible, from the person who gave this order to those who carried it out, to be brought to justice and punished under international law,” she said.

Cengiz said she had not been contacted by Prince Mohammed or the Saudi royal family, nor offered any condolences by them.

Saudi Arabia initially denied any involvement in Khashoggi’s disappearance but a Saudi official eventually attributed his death to a botched attempt to return him to the kingdom.

Later, Riyadh said the killing was premeditated and Prince Mohammed has vowed that the killers would be brought to justice.

Saudi Arabia has detained 18 people and dismissed five senior government officials as part of the investigation into Khashoggi’s murder. Some were members of a 15-man hit team, many of them Saudi intelligence operatives, who flew into Istanbul hours before Khashoggi’s death, Turkish security sources say.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has urged Riyadh to disclose who ordered the murder and prosecutors have prepared an extradition request for 18 suspects from Saudi Arabia.

“The explanations given so far by Saudi Arabia are not sufficient,” Cengiz said. “I want to know the details of who is responsible.”

(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Kevin Liffey, William Maclean)

Under the radar: Iran’s oil exports harder to track as sanctions loom

FILE PHOTO: gas flare on an oil production platform in the Soroush oil fields is seen alongside an Iranian flag in the Gulf July 25, 2005. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi/File Photo

By Alex Lawler and Ahmad Ghaddar

LONDON (Reuters) – According to Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih, no one has any idea how much oil Iran will be able to export after new U.S. sanctions against the Islamic Republic kick in on Nov. 4.

But more precisely, Iran’s shipment figures – crucial to oil markets – are already a mystery.

Iran’s oil exports are becoming harder to measure as ships switch off tracking systems, oil industry sources say, adding uncertainty over how far U.S. sanctions are scaring off buyers. The prospect of more oil heading into storage could make number-crunching even tougher.

Amid pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to cool the price of oil, the lack of export clarity adds to the challenge for other OPEC members, chiefly top crude supplier Saudi Arabia, to make up for falling Iranian shipments.

Iran is the third-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and estimates of its crude exports in October vary by more than 1 million barrels per day (bpd). That amount is enough to cover the oil demand of Turkey and move prices in the 100-million-bpd world market.

Before Trump’s May announcement of the sanctions, Iranian exports were above 2.5 million bpd.

Falih acknowledged the challenge in an interview with Russia’s TASS news agency published on Oct. 22. “Nobody has a clue what Iranian exports will be,” he said.

An Iranian oil official, asked how much crude Iran was exporting in October, declined to comment.

Oil prices have extended a rally on expectations the sanctions will test OPEC and other producers. Brent crude on Oct. 3 reached $86.74 a barrel, the highest since 2014, although it has since eased to $77.

While the Saudi minister may have been referring to what happens after sanctions kick in, the range of estimates of how much Iran is exporting now is already widening.

“A large set of numbers estimating Iranian October first-half exports have been thrown to the market these last few days, ranging for 1 million bpd to 2.2 million bpd, which is a massive spread,” Kpler, a data intelligence company, said.

According to Refinitiv Eikon data, Iran exported 1.55 million bpd in the first three weeks of October, higher than the 1.33 million bpd seen in the first two weeks of the month.

Kpler put Iranian exports at 1.85 million bpd in the first 24 days of October.

An industry source who also tracks the exports estimated a similar volume of 1.8 million bpd in the first half of October, including vessels not showing on satellite tracking. A second source initially agreed and later trimmed his figure to 1.65 million bpd through Oct. 22.

“It’s pretty high, I have to admit,” this source said of estimated exports in the first two weeks of the month. “It’s possible that there is a drop-off since.”

SIGNAL SWITCHED OFF

At any time, adjustments to tanker schedules and week-by-week variation complicate the task. While easier than in the past due to satellite information, the tracking of tankers is still both art and science.

Another element may be making this harder, industry sources say.

Tankers loading Iranian crude sometimes switch off their AIS signal, an automatic tracking system used on ships, only to switch it back on at a later stage of their journey, according to oil industry sources.

This could create a problem for ship-tracking services trying to pinpoint the exact date, or even the exact hour, on which a tanker loaded its crude cargo.

Neither Iran’s National Iranian Oil Co nor National Iranian Tanker Co responded to an emailed request for comment.

“Concretely, we are able to confirm loadings of vessels having shut down AIS transponders by other means such as satellite imagery or by tracking Iranian-flagged tugs, which has proven especially valuable given the lack of AIS coverage throughout much of the Gulf,” Kpler said.

Iran was believed by oil trading and shipping sources in 2012 to be hiding the destination of its oil sales by strategically switching off vessels’ tracking systems.

Attempts by Reuters to seek official Iranian comment on that development, both in 2012 and for this article, received no response.

Iran insists it will keep exporting oil and says the U.S. sanctions will ensure the market remains volatile.

“Iranian oil exports cannot be stopped,” Tasnim news agency quoted Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh as saying on Oct. 23.

Iranian Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri said on Sunday: “Despite sanctions, Iran’s oil exports will not fall below a million barrels a day.”

OIL INTO ASIAN STORAGE?

As the number of buyers dwindles, a large volume of Iranian crude is set to arrive at China’s northeast Dalian port this month and in early November.

China intends to cut purchases in November. But Iran is undeterred, planning to send buyers such as India and China oil for storage rather than consumption, making it harder to measure how much oil is reaching the market, sources say.

Analysts, in assessing a producer’s supply of oil to the market, generally do not take into account crude moved into storage.

“We will give them oil even for our inventory there,” a source familiar with Iranian thinking said, referring to India. “The same we will do for China.”

The data seen to date suggests Iranian crude exports in October are still down from at least 2.5 million bpd in April, before Trump in May withdrew the United States from a nuclear deal with Iran and reimposed sanctions.

Exports dropped below 1.2 million bpd under previous sanctions that were lifted following that 2015 nuclear agreement.

While Washington has said it wants to cut Iran’s oil exports to zero, Iran and Saudi Arabia say that is unlikely. The Trump administration is considering waivers on sanctions for countries that are reducing their imports.

Iran says waivers will be granted allowing shipments to continue at a lower level, as it contends that Saudi Arabia and other producers cannot fully replace Iran’s crude exports.

“Waivers are expected, as Saudi Arabia and Russia cannot do it,” the source familiar with Iranian thinking said.

(Additional reporting by Rania El Gamal; editing by Dmitry Zhdannikov and Dale Hudson)

Turkey’s Erdogan urges Saudis to say who ordered Khashoggi’s killing

A demonstrator holds a poster with a picture of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi outside the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul, Turkey October 25, 2018. REUTERS/Osman Orsal

By Ezgi Erkoyun and Ali Kucukgocmen

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan urged Saudi Arabia on Friday to disclose who ordered the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, as well as the location of his body, heightening international pressure on the kingdom to come clean on the case.

Erdogan said Turkey had more information than it had shared so far about the killing of Khashoggi, a prominent U.S.-based critic of powerful Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, that has pitched the world’s top oil exporter and pivotal Middle East strategic partner of the West into a serious crisis.

The kingdom, Erdogan added, also must reveal the identity of the “local cooperator” whom Saudi officials earlier said had taken charge of Khashoggi’s body from Saudi agents after his killing inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor said on Thursday the killing of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, was premeditated, reversing a previous official statement that it happened accidentally during a tussle in the consulate.

The kingdom’s shifting explanations of what happened to Khashoggi when he entered the consulate to get papers for his divorce have stirred scepticism and calls for Saudi transparency to determine who was ultimately responsible for the murder.

“Who gave this order?” Erdogan said in a speech to members of his AK Party in Ankara. “Who gave the order for 15 people to come to Turkey?” he said, referring to a 15-man Saudi security team Turkey said flew into Istanbul hours before the killing.

Saudi officials initially denied having anything to do with Khashoggi’s disappearance after he entered the consulate, before announcing that an internal inquiry suggested he was killed by mistake in a botched operation to return him to the kingdom.

Riyadh says 18 people have been arrested and five senior government officials have been sacked as part of the investigation. Prince Mohammed, Riyadh’s de facto ruler who casts himself as a reformer, has said the killers will be brought to justice.

Erdogan said he had spoken with Prince Mohammed. “I also told the crown prince. I said, ‘You know how to make people talk. Whatever happened between these 18 people, this dodgy business is among them. If you are determined to lift suspicion, then the key point of our cooperation is these 18 people.'”

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a meeting of his ruling AK Party in Ankara, Turkey October 26, 2018. Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Presidential Press Office/Handout via REUTERS

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a meeting of his ruling AK Party in Ankara, Turkey October 26, 2018. Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Presidential Press Office/Handout via REUTERS

WEST MULLS REPERCUSSIONS

How Western allies deal with Riyadh will hinge on the extent to which they believe responsibility for Khashoggi’s death lies directly with Prince Mohammed and the Saudi authorities.

The stakes are high. Saudi Arabia is the lynchpin of a U.S.-backed regional alliance against Iran but the outcry over the murder has strained Riyadh’s relations with the West. Dozens of Western officials, bankers and executives boycotted a major investment conference in Riyadh this week.

Erdogan also said Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor was due in Istanbul on Sunday to meets its regional chief prosecutor.

“Of course, we have other information; documents, but there is no need to be too hasty,” said Erdogan, who previously described Khashoggi’s demise as a “savage killing” and demanded Riyadh punish those responsible, no matter how highly placed.

On Thursday, Saudi state television quoted the Saudi public prosecutor as saying the killing had been planned in advance and that suspects were being interrogated on the basis of information provided by a joint Saudi-Turkish task force.

Turkish officials suspect Saudi security agents killed Khashoggi, 59, inside the consulate and dismembered his body. Turkish sources say authorities have an audio recording purportedly documenting the murder.

Pro-government Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak, citing the audio, reported that Saudi agents cut off his fingers during an interrogation and later beheaded him.

U.S. CIA Director Gina Haspel heard an audio of the killing during a visit to Turkey this week, sources told Reuters, and she briefed President Donald Trump about Turkey’s findings and her discussions after her return to Washington on Thursday.

It remains unclear what can be heard in the audio. Officials from the CIA and Turkish intelligence declined to comment.

However, a European security source who was briefed by people who listened to the audio said of the recording: “There was an argument at the beginning, they insulted each other, it then developed. (Saudis said) ‘Let’s give a lesson to him’.”

Among various versions of what happened to Khashoggi given by Riyadh, Saudi officials had said the columnist was either killed in a fight inside the consulate or died in a chokehold when he resisted being drugged and abducted.

Khashoggi did not appear to believe he was going to die, the European security source said.

In Moscow, the Kremlin said on Friday that Russia has no reason to doubt the statements of the Saudi king and crown prince that the royal family was not involved in the murder.

Saudi King Salman assured Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone on Thursday that Saudi authorities were resolved to hold the guilty parties accountable and ensure “they receive their punishment”, the official Saudi press agency SPA said.

(Additional reporting by Orhan Coskun and Tulay Karadeniz in Ankara, Maria Tsvetkova in Moscow Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

CIA chief to brief Trump after hearing Khashoggi audio

FILE PHOTO: CIA Director nominee Gina Haspel testifies at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., May 9, 2018. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – CIA Director Gina Haspel will brief U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday on the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said after the spy agency chief heard an audio recording of the Saudi journalist’s death.

Haspel traveled to Turkey this week to review intelligence about the Khashoggi incident and heard an audio recording there of his death, sources told Reuters. Representatives for the CIA and Turkish intelligence declined to comment.

The United States has revoked visas for a number of Saudis thought to be responsible for Khashoggi’s death in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

Trump was scheduled to receive an intelligence briefing at 11:30 a.m..

The killing of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and a critic of Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has sparked global condemnation and mushroomed into a major crisis for the world’s top oil exporter.

Trump was quoted by the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday as saying that the crown prince bore ultimate responsibility for the operation that led to Khashoggi’s death.

Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor said on Thursday the murder of Khashoggi was premeditated, reversing previous official statements that the killing was unintended.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey and Mark Hosenball; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Alistair Bell)

In change of tack, Saudi Arabia says Khashoggi’s murder ‘premeditated’

FILE PHOTO: Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi speaks at an event hosted by Middle East Monitor in London, Britain, September 29, 2018. Middle East Monitor/Handout via REUTERS

DUBAI/ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor said on Thursday the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate was premeditated, reversing previous official statements that the killing was unintended.

The death of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of de facto Saudi ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has sparked global outrage and mushroomed into a crisis for the world’s top oil exporter and strategic ally of the West.

Saudi officials initially denied having anything to do with Khashoggi’s disappearance after he entered the consulate on Oct. 2, before changing the official account to say an internal investigation suggested Khashoggi was accidentally killed in a botched operation to return him to the kingdom.

Turkey and Western allies of Riyadh have voiced deep skepticism about Saudi explanations of the killing, with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan dismissing Saudi efforts to blame rogue operatives and urging the kingdom to search “top to bottom” for those responsible.

On Thursday, Saudi state TV quoted the Saudi public prosecutor as saying the killing was premeditated, and that prosecutors were interrogating suspects on the basis of information provided by a joint Saudi-Turkish task force.

“Information from the Turkish side affirms that the suspects in Khashoggi’s case premeditated their crime,” said the statement carried by state TV.

The disclosure came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump, the kingdom’s staunchest Western ally, was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying that Prince Mohammed, also known as MbS, bore ultimate responsibility for the operation that led to Khashoggi’s death.

Two informed sources told Reuters on Thursday that CIA director Gina Haspel heard an audio recording of the killing during a fact-finding visit to Turkey this week, the first indication Ankara has shared its key investigative evidence.

A White House spokeswoman said Haspel would meet with Trump later on Thursday to brief him on the case. Representatives of the CIA declined to comment.

“We have shared with those who sought additional information some of the information and findings that the prosecutor has allowed us to share,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters, without giving specific details.

INTELLIGENCE RESTRUCTURING

Saudi Arabia has detained 18 people and dismissed five senior government officials as part of the investigation into Khashoggi’s murder. Some were members of a 15-man hit team, many of them Saudi intelligence operatives, who flew into Istanbul hours before Khashoggi’s death, Turkish security sources say.

Turkish police were investigating water samples from a well at the consulate on Thursday after initially being denied access, broadcaster CNN Turk said.

King Salman, who has delegated the day-to-day running of Saudi Arabia to his son MbS, on Saturday ordered a restructuring of the general intelligence agency.

Saudi state news agency SPA said on Thursday that MbS had presided over the first meeting of a committee to carry out that restructuring and that it had come up with recommendations to improve the agency’s work.

How Western allies deal with Riyadh will hinge on the extent to which they believe responsibility for Khashoggi’s death lies directly with MbS and the Saudi authorities.

MbS promised on Wednesday the killers would be brought to justice, his first public comments on the matter after speaking by phone with Erdogan.

Erdogan has called Khashoggi’s murder a “savage killing” and demanded Riyadh punish those responsible, no matter how highly placed. Cavusoglu said Turkey had no intention of taking the Khashoggi case to an international court but would share information if an international inquiry were launched.

DEFIANT

Saudi Arabia is the lynchpin of a U.S.-backed regional bloc against Iran but the crisis has strained Riyadh’s relations with the West. Dozens of Western officials, world bankers, and company executives shunned a major three-day investment conference in Riyadh this week.

But striking a defiant tone, MbS told international investors at the conference on Wednesday that the furor would not derail the kingdom’s reform drive.

“We will prove to the world that the two governments (Saudi and Turkish) are cooperating to punish any criminal, any culprit and at the end justice will prevail,” he said to applause.

Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih conceded on Wednesday that the scandal had hurt the kingdom’s image. But he said Saudi Arabia had signed $56 billion of deals at the conference despite the partial boycott and that it expected the United States to remain a key business partner.

“The interests that tie us are bigger than what is being weakened by the failed boycotting campaign of the conference,” he told Saudi state TV.

Britain, like the United States a major weapons supplier to the kingdom, has described Riyadh’s explanations for the killing as lacking credibility. France has said it will consider sanctions against Saudi Arabia if its intelligence services find Riyadh was behind Khashoggi’s death.

For their part, the Trump administration and the U.S. defense industry are scrambling to save the few actual deals in a much-touted $110 billion arms package for Saudi Arabia.

(Reporting by Asma Alsharif and Tuqa Khalid in Dubai; Ali Kucukgocmen and Tulay Karadeniz in Ankara; Susan Heavey in Washington; Writing by Mark Heinrich; Editing by Nick Tattersall)