The Saudis Admit the Obvious

Twenty-three days after Jamal Khashoggi vanished at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Saudi officials are finally calling it premeditated murder. Now what?

The king is most unlikely to let his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, be exposed as ordering the hit, and hard proof of it seems unlikely. Whether this disaster sidelines MBS as heir apparent is up to the Saudis, too.

Yet MBS’s closest associates clearly were involved, which makes US sanctions under the Magnitsky Act, against the prince as well as his minions, pretty much mandatory.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said his department has begun revoking the visas of some Saudi diplomats. Washington is also looking at freezing the assets of individuals involved in the murder.

That’s a start, but there’s now also an excellent case for cutting America’s support — missiles, bombs and spare parts for the Saudi air force — for MBS’s horrific war in Yemen.

But the hard truth is that the overall rationale for the US-Saudi alliance is as strong as it was a month ago: Above all, both nations share a common enemy in Iran.

Nor should Trump bow to the manipulations of Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who’s plainly out to use the crisis to end US support for the Kurds who helped defeat ISIS.

Team Trump needs to take human rights seriously — but not at the cost of selling out every other American interest.