Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi: Has point of contention between US-Saudi Arabia resolved?
In the latest turn of events, US President Donald Trump said that Saudi Arabia's crown prince MBS had no awareness or involvement with the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. This though contradicts earlier US intel which put him as a key player who was aware of the planned assassination of the vocal regime critic.
New Delhi: During a press conference with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, US President Donald Trump insisted that the crown prince "knew nothing” about the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Trump’s claims have caused an uproar as they go against what US intelligence agencies had earlier concluded about bin Salman’s involvement. A CIA assessment released in 2021 found that Saudi agents in Istanbul acted on bin Salman’s order when they killed and dismembered Khashoggi in 2018. Khashoggi was a known critic of Saudi Arabia’s government and royal family.
Trump’s roundabout
US President Donald Trump’s comments came during a time when the Crown Prince is on a two-day visit to the US, a showcase of the ties between Saudi Arabia and the United States of America. Significantly, this is bin Salman's first visit to the US capital since 2018 after Khashoggi’s assasination.
When asked about the part played by the crown prince in the journalist’s murder, Trump said how "things happen” and claimed that bin Salman "knew nothing about it.” Trump said to the reporter asking the question that, "A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about. Whether you like him or don’t like him, things happen, but he knew nothing about it,” Trump said standing next to the crown prince during the press conference. "We can leave it at that. You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking a question like that,” Trump further added.
The Crown Prince also responded to the question, saying about the murder, "it’s painful and it’s a huge mistake—and we are doing our best that this doesn’t happen again.”
Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi
Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident journalist, was assassinated on October 2, 2018 by what was later revealed to be Saudi Arabian agents. The murder took place at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.
Details later revealed that Khashoggi was ambushed and strangled by a 15-member squad in the embassy in a gruesome murder after which his body was dismembered and disposed of. The whereabouts of his dead body and the details around it have not been found out.
After initial denial, the Saudi Arabian government accepted on October 25 that the killing was planned, but denied any involvement of the regime’s crown prince MBS. Bin Salman said he accepted responsibility for the killing "because it happened under my watch" but denied having ordered it.
Later the New York Times reported that the Saudi government had engaged in extensive efforts to cover up the assasination. Further Turkish investigations and those by news publications like The New York Times also revealed that the murder was planned and involved individuals that were close to Mohammed bin Salman.
Things came to a heat when the US Central Intelligence Agency came to the conclusion that bin Salman had ordered the murder. It is this finding that is now being flouted by Trump’s denial. While Saudi’s part in the assassination has been criticised on various international platforms subsequently, Trump’s denial of any involvement of the crown prince goes against the international uproar against bin Salman’s involvement and helps to normalise his presence on the global stage by acquitting him of a crime that his own intelligence agency convicted him of.