U.S. Seeks ‘Tangible Progress’ in Khashoggi Investigation

An unnamed senior official in the administration of President Donald Trump says Washington is pushing Riyadh to get to the bottom of the murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi on October 2, 2018, at the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul. According to Reuters, the official noted that the one-year point was coming up and there would be “increased sensitivity around the anniversary. It would be in everyone’s best interest to have some tangible progress by then.” Trump has come under fire from some U.S. lawmakers for having placed doubts on an assessment by the Central Intelligence Agency that the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, had probably ordered the killing. The Saudi-born Khashoggi was highly critical of the House of Saud and at the time of the murder was a U.S. resident writing regular opinion pieces for The Washington Post. Riyadh at first denied any involvement but eventually came around to admit that Khashoggi had indeed been murdered at the consulate and that 11 Saudi suspects were now on trial behind closed doors. However, it emphatically denies that the crown prince himself was involved. Trump is known to be keen on having the U.S. maintain close relations with Saudi Arabia owing to the countries’ shared enmity toward Iran.