ISTANBUL -- Saudi Arabia said Sunday that it would not bend to "threats" as it pushed back against growing U.S. and international pressure over allegations it is responsible for the death of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, threatening retaliation for any sanctions.
The kingdom's government is as "glorious and steadfast as ever," and neither threatened economic measures nor the repetition of "false accusations" will hurt it, the official news agency said, even as the Saudi financial market plummeted. Censure of any kind would be met with "greater action" from Riyadh, it added, pointing out Saudi Arabia's "vital role" in the world economy.
But conciliatory statements from the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C., shortly afterward pointed to a leadership in disarray, as cracks showed in its long-term alliance with the United States. It is a relationship that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has worked hard to further cement under President Donald Trump, including with a high-profile visit to the United States in March.
Trump has said "severe punishment" would follow if it is found that Saudi Arabia killed Khashoggi, last seen on Oct. 2 stepping through the gray metal gates at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, where he planned to complete paperwork for his wedding.
In an interview that aired Sunday, Trump told CBS' 60 Minutes that Saudi Arabia would face strong consequences if involved in Khashoggi's disappearance.
"There's something really terrible and disgusting about that, if that was the case, so we're going to have to see," Trump said. "We're going to get to the bottom of it, and there will be severe punishment."
But the president has also said "we would be punishing ourselves" by canceling arms sales to Saudi Arabia. The sales are a "tremendous order for our companies," and if the Saudis don't buy their weaponry from the U.S., they will get it from others, he said.
In the interview with Lesley Stahl, Trump called the journalist's suspected murder "really terrible and disgusting."
"We would be very upset and angry if that were the case," he said of Saudi Arabia's potential responsibility. "As of this moment, they deny it, and they deny it vehemently. Could it be them? Yes."
Also on Sunday, U.S. senators called for swift and united action against Saudi Arabia if it is responsible, with one Republican saying Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin should refuse to attend an investment forum in the country until the facts are clear.
"I don't think we should continue with business as usual until we know what happened here," Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said on CNN's State of the Union.
"I don't think he should go," Rubio said when asked about Mnuchin's plan to attend the conference.
Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., also called for a robust response if the Saudi government is found responsible, including limiting or suspending arms sales and reconsidering U.S. involvement in the civil war in Yemen.
"Severe action needs to be taken," Flake said on This Week. He said the Saudis' explanation for Khashoggi's disappearance "just isn't plausible."
The Trump administration increasingly regards Saudi Arabia's denial as untenable, and the president and his aides are more and more convinced that the Washington Post writer died after entering the Saudi Consulate, said three U.S. officials who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow warned Sunday of "stern action" by Trump if Saudi Arabia is found responsible for Khashoggi's disappearance. "If the Saudis are involved, if Khashoggi was killed or harmed or whatever bad outcome here, he will take action. That has been his strategy. Believe what he says," Kudlow said on Fox News Sunday.
Kudlow said on ABC's This Week that he expected Trump would get information about Khashoggi's fate and take action within the week.
One U.S. official said options include sanctions against Saudi officials, ejecting some of the kingdom's diplomats from Washington or otherwise downgrading relations.
Another said Trump's national security advisers believe they can pressure the Saudis without destroying the diplomatic relationship, which is why they're waiting for facts to emerge, including the results of a joint Turkish-Saudi probe, before taking action.
In Europe on Sunday, Britain, France and Germany also expressed "grave concern" and called for a "credible investigation" of his fate and a detailed Saudi response. "We have conveyed this message directly to the Saudi authorities," they said in a joint statement.
International business leaders are pulling out of the kingdom's coming investment forum, a high-profile event known as "Davos in the Desert," and the sell-off on Riyadh's Tadawul stock exchange showed that investors are uneasy. That includes the CEO of Uber, a company in which Saudi Arabia has invested billions of dollars, as well as billionaire Richard Branson.
JOINT WORKING GROUP
As the crisis mounted, Saudi leader King Salman called Turkish President Recip Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday, thanking him for welcoming the kingdom's proposal to set up a "joint working group" to probe Khashoggi's disappearance, a Saudi statement said.
However, Turkish officials said Sunday that Saudi Arabia appears to be using delay tactics and is interested only in presenting a facade of cooperation.
While denying involvement, Saudi Arabia has not explained why Khashoggi has not been seen since Oct. 2, including in footage from closed-circuit television cameras that monitor surrounding streets. Turkish officials say it is because he died inside and have told U.S. officials they have audio and video recordings to prove it.
After the Saudi government statement was released early Sunday, Turki Aldakhil, the general manager of the Saudi-owned al-Arabiya news network, wrote in a column that "decision-making circles within the kingdom" were considering more than 30 potential measures in response to the threat of sanctions, including pricing oil in Chinese yuan rather than the dollar and allowing Russia to build a military base on Saudi soil. The column also suggested Saudi Arabia could use its oil production as a weapon. Benchmark Brent crude is trading at around $80 a barrel, and Trump has criticized OPEC and Saudi Arabia over rising prices.
"If the price of oil reaching $80 angered President Trump, no one should rule out the price jumping to $100, or $200, or even double that figure," Aldakhil wrote.
But later Sunday, Faisal bin Farhan, a senior adviser to the Saudi Embassy in Washington, wrote on Twitter that the column "in no way reflects the thinking of the Saudi leadership." The embassy also issued on its Twitter account what it said was a clarification of the government statement, writing that the kingdom "extends it appreciation to all, including the US administration, for refraining from jumping to conclusions on the ongoing investigation," an apparent reference to Khashoggi's disappearance.
Saudi Arabia has vehemently denied having anything to do with Khashoggi's disappearance. Speaking a day after he was last seen, Mohammed, the crown prince, said in an interview with Bloomberg that Turkish authorities were welcome to search inside the consulate building. "We have nothing to hide," he said.
But almost two weeks later, Turkish authorities are still waiting for access, and Saudi Arabia is not cooperating, two Turkish officials said Sunday. While the two countries have announced a joint investigative committee, the Saudi request for it is largely an attempt by Riyadh to convey the appearance of cooperation, said one Turkish official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the frustrations.
"There is no joint investigation team," he said, adding that Turkey is the only one actually investigating. "We accepted it because if we turned them down, they would have complained we were preventing them from cooperating."
While an earlier Saudi statement specified that the joint team's purpose was to investigate, the one detailing Salman's call on Sunday said its purpose was to "discuss" the disappearance.
A steady drip of leaks from Turkish officials has ratcheted up pressure on Saudi Arabia, but so far Turkey has not released all the evidence it has told U.S. officials it possesses. That may be attributable to efforts to reach an agreement with Riyadh in which it can save face and prevent completely blowing up the bilateral relationship, said Soner Cagaptay, a Turkey analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
The two countries are probably working toward a "graceful exit" he said, "where they blame rogue elements of the Saudi state and throw one big significant name under the bus."
A senior Turkish official also said he suspected Saudi was preparing to "throw someone under the bus."
As the crisis brewed, Saudi Arabia reminded its citizens that sharing "fake news" that might affect public order and security is punishable by a 5-year prison sentence and an $800,000 fine, the Saudi Gazette reported, citing a Public Prosecution statement.
Information for this article was contributed by Loveday Morris, Souad Mekhennet, Kareem Fahim , Elise Viebeck and Felicia Sonmez of The Washington Post; by Jon Gambrell and Malak Harb of The Associated Press; and by Jennifer Epstein, Jennifer Jacobs, Nick Wadhams and Zainab Fattah of Bloomberg News.
A Section on 10/15/2018