US WARNS SAUDI OVER SCRIBE ‘MURDER’
KINGDOM REJECTS THREATS, SAYS WOULD RETALIATE
As US President Donald Trump threatened “severe punishment” for Riyadh over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia hit back on Sunday saying the kingdom would retaliate against any sanctions with tougher measures.
Khashoggi, a US resident and Washington Post columnist critical of Riyadh’s policies, disappeared on October 2 after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkey believes he was murdered and his body removed. Saudi Arabia has denied that.
US President Donald Trump has threatened “severe punishment” if it turns out Khashoggi was killed in the consulate, though he said Washington would be “punishing” itself if it halted military sales to Riyadh.
“The Kingdom affirms its total rejection of any threats and attempts to undermine it, whether by threatening to impose economic sanctions, using political pressures, or repeating false accusations,” the official Saudi Press Agency quoted an official as saying.
“The Kingdom also affirms that if it receives any action, it will respond with greater action, and that the Kingdom’s economy
has an influential and vital role in the global economy,” the official added, without elaborating.
Europe’s largest economies — Britain, France and Germany — said they were treating the case with “the utmost seriousness”.
“There needs to be a credible investigation to establish the truth about what happened, and - if relevant - to identify those bearing responsibility for the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, and ensure that they are held to account,” the countries said in a joint statement.
“We encourage joint SaudiTurkish efforts in that regard,
and expect the Saudi Government to provide a complete and detailed response. We have conveyed this message directly to the Saudi authorities.”
The statement, by Britain’s Jeremy Hunt, France’s JeanYves Le Drian and Germany’s Heiko Maas, made no mention of potential actions they might take.
US senators called for reactions ranging from boycotting an upcoming economic summit in Riyadh to ending support for Saudi military operations in Yemen. “If they lured this man into that consulate, they went medieval on him, and he was
killed and he was chopped up and they sent a death crew down there to kill him and do all of this, that would be an outrage,” Florida Senator Marco Rubio told CNN’s State of the Union. “Just because they are an ally in an important mission, which is containing Iranian expansion in the region, cannot allow us to overlook or walk away from that.”
The Saudi stock market fell as much as 7 percent in early trade on Sunday, one of the first signs of economic pain Riyadh could suffer over the affair. By close, it had recovered some losses, ending down 3.5 percent and losing $16.5 billion of market value.
In a column, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya channel’s General Manager Turki Aldakhil warned that imposing sanctions on the world’s largest oil exporter could spark global economic disaster. “It would lead to Saudi Arabia’s failure to commit to producing 7.5 million barrels. 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.”
Investor concern is growing that Khashoggi’s disappearance could add to a sense that Saudi policy has become more unpredictable under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has presided over a rise in tensions between with several countries.