Pompeo: No direct evidence to implicate Saudi crown prince

Says Khashoggi probe continues and those responsible will be held accountable

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted on Saturday that “no direct evidence” linked the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman to the death of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Pompeo’s boss, Donald Trump, has disputed that the CIA has said Prince Mohammad is to blame.

Pompeo spoke to CNN on Saturday, on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Buenos Aires.

Asked if he believed the Saudis, he said: “I’ve spoken about this a lot. I continue to work on this issue. President Trump and this administration sanctioned 17 people that we came to learn were connected to the murder — heinous murder — of Jamal Khashoggi.

“All across the United States government we continue to investigate, to try and learn, to make determinations about what happened, and we’ll continue to hold those responsible accountable. We’ve been very clear, very clear about that since literally the very beginning.”

Pompeo said he would not comment on “intelligence matters or CIA conclusions” and said “reports in the media often are untrue”.

But he added: “I have read every piece of intelligence that is in the possession of the United States government, and when it is done, when you complete that analysis, there’s no direct evidence linking [Prince Mohammad] to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. That is an accurate statement, it is an important statement, and it is the statement that we are making publicly today.”

Pompeo said “the strategic relationship” with Saudi Arabia remained of paramount importance to the US.

Asked about rising opposition in Congress to US support for the coalition’s military effort in the civil war in Yemen, he said the US was working to end hostilities but “the programme that we’re involved in today we intend to continue”.

Speaking to the network’s Wolf Blitzer, Pompeo said the Kingdom was “an enormous support” to the US.

He said: “They are a relationship that has mattered for 70 years across Republican and Democrat administrations alike, and remain an important relationship. We’re aiming to keep that relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

During the interview, he also said that the US and Saudi Arabia were working closely in Afghanistan as well as against Iran.

Pompeo’s statement of US support comes after he wrote last week that Saudi Arabia remained a “powerful force for stability in the Middle East”.