© Bloomberg. The shadow of a security guard falls on the entrance door of the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. (Bloomberg) — Saudi Arabia is considering saying missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi died in a botched interrogation, according to media reports, an explanation that could deflect blame from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and give the U.S. and Turkey a way out of confronting a regional powerhouse.
The possible narrative of an operation gone wrong, reported by CNN, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, was being floated as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Riyadh to discuss the disappearance of Khashoggi, a Saudi government critic last seen entering the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. President Donald Trump said he couldn’t confirm that account, but has suggested a “rogue killer” might be to blame.
Skeptics say it’s unlikely such an operation could have happened without the royal court’s knowledge. But Saudi Arabia stocks erased losses on the reports of a story line that could potentially diminish the risk of threatened punitive action from Washington. The Tadawul All Share Index, which had lost as much as 4 percent in the first six minutes of trading on Tuesday, rebounded to rise 0.4 percent at 1:04 p.m. in Riyadh.
Short Meeting
Pompeo met with King Salman immediately after his arrival, for an estimated 15 minutes, according to CNN. He then sat down with Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir, and is expected to meet Prince Mohammed in the afternoon. Officials haven’t commented on the substance of the conversations.
A Saudi official told Bloomberg on Monday that the public prosecutor was launching an internal investigation and could hold people accountable if evidence warrants. While Turkish officials have said privately that Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate, the public Saudi line has been that the Washington Post contributor left the building unharmed, so news of an internal probe was the first sign officials could be considering another narrative.
Khashoggi’s disappearance is the latest in a series of developments that have undercut Prince Mohammed’s efforts to fashion himself as a reformer, including his jailing of hundreds of businessmen, royals and activists over the past year in an alleged crackdown on corruption and national security threats. It’s also threatened to spark a diplomatic crisis with the Trump administration, which has built its Middle East policy around a close alliance with Saudi Arabia, and with Turkey, which has worked to maintain ties with oil-rich kingdom despite serious differences over regional policy.
Menacing Investment
Chris Van Hollen, a Democratic senator from Maryland, said on Twitter that “President Trump’s suggestion that Khashoggi’s elaborately planned murder in the Saudi’s own consulate was orchestrated by ‘rogue killers’ defies reality. Orders must have come from the top. The U.S. must not be complicit in an effort to cover-up this heinous crime.”
Khashoggi’s disappearance has also had implications for Prince Mohammed’s much-touted plan to overhaul the Saudi economy. On Monday, Trump said he’s uncertain whether his administration will participate in a Saudi investment conference later this month, and a succession of sponsors and participants have already pulled out of the event, with the chief executives of HSBC and Credit Suisse (SIX:) joining a list that also includes JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:). Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon and Uber Technologies Inc.’s Dara Khosrowshahi.
Consulate Search
A team of Turkish forensic experts and security officials entered the Saudi consulate on Monday night for an investigation that lasted for more than nine hours. State-run Anadolu news agency said the consul’s residence would also be searched, without giving a timetable. Pompeo is expected to visit Turkey on Wednesday after his trip to Riyadh. Both the U.S. and Turkey have refrained from implicating Saudi authorities outright.
Trump has said the U.S. could take “very, very powerful, very strong measures” against Saudi Arabia if its leadership is found responsible for Khashoggi’s disappearance — a comment that provoked a Saudi threat of retaliation. But while he’s come under increasing pressure from Congress to cancel multibillion-dollar arm sales to the kingdom, Trump has resisted, saying Riyadh will just turn to Russia or China instead.
“Determining what happened to Jamal Khashoggi is something of great importance to the president,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said on Monday as Pompeo prepared to depart Washington. Trump said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will decide whether to attend the investment conference by Friday.
Turkish leaders have also been circumspect about Khashoggi’s disappearance, giving no public comment at a time when their country is isolated in the Middle East over its regional policies and grappling with economic woes.
(Updates with Pompeo’s meetings in fourth paragraph.)
Source: Investing.com
