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In an escalation of the growing division between Saudi Arabia and some Western allies, the Kingdom has also stated that "if actions are taken [against it]he will respond with more action. "
"He also claims that the Kingdom's economy plays a vital and vital role in the global economy and that the only thing that will have an impact on its economy is the global economy," the statement added.
The statement did not specifically mention Khashoggi, who disappeared after entering the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul on October 2, to obtain documents attesting to his upcoming marriage to Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz.
Khashoggi, a Washington Post editorialist and Saudi royal insider turned critic, has not been seen in public since he joined the consulate nearly two weeks ago.
Due to diplomatic repercussions on Khashoggi's disappearance, Saudi Arabia is facing increasing isolation as companies pull out of a high-profile investment summit scheduled for the end of the month in Riyadh.
US Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Mike Pompeo refused on Saturday to confirm whether US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin would still participate in the conference on future investment initiatives to be organized by the United States. Saudi crown prince – "Davos in the desert" – later this month.
"I think we need to continue to evaluate the facts and we will make that decision," I told Secretary Mnuchin last night, "we'll take a look around the week," he said. Pompeo, on his side. President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Saturday.
Doubts are also growing about British Secretary of Commerce Liam Fox's participation in the Riyadh conference, the BBC reported on Sunday, citing diplomatic sources.
A spokesman for the UK Department of International Trade told CNN that Fox's agenda was not yet finalized for the week of the conference.
More and more evidence but conclusive evidence is still missing
On Friday, a source close to the ongoing investigation told CNN that the Turkish authorities had sound and visual evidence indicating that Khashoggi had been killed inside the consulate.
Saudi Arabia firmly denies any involvement in the disappearance of Khashoggi and claims to have left the consulate this afternoon.
A bride describes her grief in front of a "lonely patriot"
Khashoggi's fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, revealed how the couple spent their last hours together writing that "tyrants end up paying their sins," in an article in the New York Times on Saturday.
Cengiz said in the article that Khashoggi had been "cheerful" the morning they went together to the consulate and that the couple had made plans for the rest of the day.
"We were going to run the appliances in our new house and meet our friends and family during dinner," she wrote. "When we arrived at the consulate, he went straight in. He told me to alert the Turkish authorities if I did not hear about him soon."
The article of heart, describing how the two men met at a conference in Istanbul in May and stressed their "common passion for democracy, human rights and the freedom of expression ", was published on the day of Khashoggi's birthday, said Cengiz.
"I had planned a party, inviting her closest friends to surround her with the love and warmth she had missed," she writes. "We would be married now."
Cengiz said that Khashoggi had fled to Saudi Arabia with two suitcases for the United States "in the middle of a crackdown on intellectuals and activists who were critical of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman".
But rather than dissenting, he considered himself a patriot "using his pen for the good of his country," she said.
Cengiz added that she had seen information that President Trump wanted to invite him to the White House. But she said: "S & he makes a real contribution to the efforts to reveal what happened inside the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul that day, I consider accepting his invitation. "
The US president said Friday that he had not yet spoken to King Salman of Saudi Arabia – bin Salman's father – as a result of the alleged killing of Khashoggi, but that he expected "very soon".
