Crown prince a 'red line'
Saudi Arabia has warned criticism of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is a "red line", after Donald Trump heaped praise on the kingdom in defiance of warnings he was giving Riyadh a pass on a journalist's grisly murder.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Wednesday that calls for the crown prince to be held accountable for the grisly killing of Jamal Khashoggi would not be tolerated.
His comments came as the US president praised Saudi Arabia for keeping oil prices low -- one strand of his argument against punishing Riyadh even though the CIA reportedly found strong evidence that the crown prince, the de facto Saudi leader, was involved in the murder.
"In Saudi Arabia our leadership is a red line. The custodian of the two holy mosques (King Salman) and the crown prince are a red line," Jubeir told the BBC.
"They represent every Saudi citizen and every Saudi citizen represents them. And we will not tolerate any discussion of anything that is disparaging towards our monarch or our crown prince."
Khashoggi, a US resident who wrote for The Washington Post and had been critical of Prince Mohammed, was lured to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, killed and reportedly dismembered.
After lengthy denials, Saudi authorities admitted responsibility and said 21 people had been taken into custody. However, a CIA analysis leaked to the US media went further, reportedly pointing the finger at the crown prince.
"Maybe he did and maybe he didn't!" Trump said on Tuesday, implying Prince Mohammed's culpability in Khashoggi's killing.
Jubeir also insisted that Prince Mohammed had not been involved in the killing. He called on Turkey to come forward with all its evidence about the slaying and stop leaking out information.
The foreign minister said the murder was a "rogue operation" by intelligence officers.
Jubeir also said any possible US sanctions on Saudi Arabia would be short-sighted.
Meanwhile, Denmark yesterday suspended arms sales to Saudi Arabia over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the second country to do so after Germany.
In another development, a Turkish newspaper yesterday reported CIA director Gina Haspel signalled to Turkish officials last month that the agency had a recording of a call in which Saudi Arabia's crown prince gave instructions to "silence" Khashoggi.
The purported call took place between Prince Mohammed and his brother, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington, Hurriyet newspaper journalist Abdulkadir Selvi wrote in a column.
"It is being said the crown prince gave orders to 'silence Jamal Khashoggi as soon as possible'," in a call which was monitored by the US agency, he said.
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