RIYADH: U.S. top diplomat Mike Pompeo met Tuesday with Saudi King Salman and the crown prince seeking to defuse a crisis over missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi, with American officials saying Riyadh had agreed the need for a “thorough” probe.
The urgent talks came after U.S. President Donald Trump dispatched Pompeo to the Gulf kingdom amid a growing international outcry about Khashoggi’s disappearance.
Khashoggi has not been seen since he walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 to sort out marriage paperwork.
“Rogue killers” could be to blame, Trump said after telephone talks on Monday with the king.
After first meeting with the king, Pompeo held separate talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir and powerful Crown Prince Mohammad 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 two men were also due to have dinner together later Tuesday.
“The secretary and the foreign minister agreed on the importance of a thorough, transparent, and timely investigation,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said later.
Turkish police Monday searched the consulate for the first time since the disappearance of Khashoggi, a Saudi national and U.S. resident who had become increasingly critical of Prince Mohammad.
U.S. media reported Monday that the oil-rich kingdom is considering an admission that Khashoggi died after an interrogation that went wrong during an intended abduction.
The U.N. human rights chief called 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 in a statement.
The investigators, who searched the premises for eight hours into Tuesday morning, took samples with them, including soil from the consulate garden, one official at the scene said.
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’,” Trump tweeted.
“The denial was very, very strong,” Trump told reporters. “It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers. Who knows?”
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 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’s traditional Western allies, who are key arms suppliers to the kingdom, and also undermined efforts by Mohammad bin Salman to present himself as a modernizing ruler.
An investment conference seen as a platform for the crown prince and dubbed the “Davos in the Desert,” scheduled to take place in Riyadh next week, has been hit by a string of prominent cancellations.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he still plans to attend but would “take [it]… into account” if more information came out.
The controversy meanwhile threw into doubt a $400 million deal the Saudi Public Investment Fund negotiated with Hollywood’s most powerful talent agency as part of the crown prince’s drive for a foothold in the entertainment industry.
Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel said the Khashoggi case was “very, very concerning,” although he stopped short of pronouncing the deal was dead.
Trump has threatened the kingdom with “severe punishment” if it is shown that Khashoggi was killed inside its Istanbul mission.
But he has also made clear he is reluctant to curb all-important arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
Britain, France and Germany also released a rare joint statement saying they were treating Khashoggi’s disappearance “with the utmost seriousness” and calling for a “credible investigation.”
Riyadh, however, has vowed to hit back against any measures imposed over the affair.
