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The timing of the two actions was certainly not a coincidence. It seems that both parties hoped that their answers would protect the crown prince from growing accusations of involvement.
But what a difference a day makes. Last Friday, the CIA concluded that the Crown Prince had personally ordered the journalist's assassination at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last month, a senior US official and a source close to the case told CNN.
US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, however, said the government had not yet made any definitive conclusions about the officials, adding that there remained "many questions left without reply".
Nevertheless, the explosive evaluation of the CIA makes it more difficult to deny Bin Salman's repeated rebuttals that bin Salman was linked to Khashoggi's death. If this is true, this development could be a blow to Trump's privileged relationship with the Saudi royals.
Despite reports of CIA discoveries, Trump is keen on his friends in the Middle East.
Before being informed by the CIA on Saturday, Trump reaffirmed his conviction of the Crown Prince's innocence, saying that he "had been told that he was not playing a role "and that the country had been" a truly spectacular ally ".
"They give us a lot of jobs, they bring us a lot of business and economic development," he said Saturday.
Among this information, there is a phone call from the Crown Prince's brothers Khalid bin Salman and Khashoggi, in which Kalid encourages the journalist to go to the consulate, according to the Post Office. Sources told the Post that Khalid had called his brother 's order.
A spokeswoman for the Saudi Embassy said in a statement that these claims were false. "We have and continue to hear various theories without seeing the main basis of these speculations."
Trump is not alone
Trump is not the only one to find a crown prince guilty of a geopolitical problem.
Shortly after Khashoggi's death, several world leaders called for an independent investigation. These calls have been whispering in recent weeks and few countries, other than Canada, are still talking about sanctions.
Ayham Kamel, head of the Eurasia Group's Middle East practice, said that it was largely because few leaders want to see a failed Saudi Arabia.
"None of the major Western countries having relations with Saudi Arabia, the United States and their allies, wants to destabilize the kingdom or create the situation of an open power struggle," Kamel told CNN .
"There are too many hot spots in the Middle East and leaders do not want to add Saudi Arabia to the list.Open power struggles are hard to predict and control."
A challenge to bin Salman's authority would be particularly complicated.
At the age of 33, he exerts extraordinary power that the kingdom has never seen in princes. He oversees almost all the country's major agencies occupying the economy, security and intelligence.
To put his dominance in perspective, it is the crown prince who was tasked to shake the country's intelligence apparatus in response to Khashoggi's death.
He also has enemies in his own family. Bin Salman has ignored dozens of other princes who would normally precede him as heir to the throne, and any involvement of the Crown Prince's involvement in the Khashoggi affair could be a sufficient opportunity. for his rivals to reappear.
The Saudis under the American wing
Trump was reluctant to impose sanctions on Saudi Arabia, but he was forced to endure congressional pressure and he is less likely to want to target the Crown Prince even though if it means going against its own intelligence agencies.
Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has built a warm relationship with bin Salman and played a pivotal role in shaping Saudi Arabian politics in the United States, largely focused on the Crown Prince and his vision of modernization. 39 economy of the kingdom.
It is under the protective wing of the Trump administration that the Saudis have been able to conduct an aggressive foreign policy and act with impunity, according to Stratfor.
"For Riyadh, the calculation that he can afford to temporarily disrupt relations with friends, but only to restore them later, is reasonable," Stratfor wrote.
"Saudi Arabia's growing claim is partly motivated by the political coverage it derives from its privileged relations with the current US government." The White House relies heavily on 39 Saudi Arabia to contain its mutual opponent, Iran, Washington is also seeking Saudi cooperation temper the price of oil.
Even Canada has felt the wrath of the Crown Prince's overbreadth. When officials in Ottawa demanded the release of imprisoned activists, Riyadh froze new trade and investment agreements, suspended flights to Canada, expelled the Canadian ambassador to Saudi Arabia, while recalling his, and even moved Saudi students studying.
Possible motives for Turkey
Turkish officials have published information on Khashoggi's death, drip, trying to arouse the world's interest and keep Riyadh at the center of his concerns.
It is this flow of information that has forced the Saudi authorities to continually change their history and which seems to have prompted them to admit that the killing of Khashoggi was premeditated.
But Turkey, which is also suffering a brutal crackdown on journalists, will likely have other motivations to pursue Saudi Arabia so aggressively, Kamel said of Eurasia.
"This is used for geopolitical competition between the Sunni powers in the region, Ankara and Riyadh are long-standing competitors in the Middle East, and Turkey is using this business to expand regional power while at the same time ensuring control over the region. Saudi Arabia, "said Kamel.
"The agenda that Mohammed bin Salman presented on foreign policy is more focused on the Arab, not only under Iranian influence but also under Turkish influence." Saudi Arabia as leader of the Arab world does not necessarily correspond to Turkey's strategic interests.
In the meantime, Khashoggi's family still hopes to find out where their parent's body – or his body – is. The absence of Khashoggi 's body at a burial in an Istanbul mosque on Friday was a bleak reminder that the whole truth had still not been revealed and that she could never be seen again. ;be.
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