The Trump administration does not seem in a hurry to judge Saudi Arabia of Khashoggi's murder

The Trump administration is awaiting the results of a Saudi inquiry into the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, according to US officials, and does not seem in a hurry to decide whether or how to punish Saudi Arabia.

The only specific response suggested to date has come from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who said this week that the administration was "reviewing the imposition of sanctions on individuals. . . engaged in this murder. "

"It will probably take us a few more weeks before we have enough evidence to actually put these sanctions in place," Pompeo said in a radio interview on Thursday. "But I think we can do it." The Saudis have made 18 arrests, mostly composed of security agents, involved in the assassination of Khashoggi, a Saudi self-exiled journalist critical of the ruling monarchy, during his visit to the consulate from Saudi Arabia to Istanbul.

Lawmakers on both sides have expressed outrage at Khashoggi's violent death, and some have demanded harsh measures ranging from the suspension of arms sales to the United States to military cooperation at the end of talks on an agreement on the civilian nuclear between the Saud and the United States. Some called on the administration to use the Khashoggi case to force Saudi Arabia to end its war in Yemen with the help of the United States and to end its dispute with the United States. the neighbor of the Persian Gulf, Qatar, another ally of the United States.

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"The last thing we want to do is continue with a usual response" to Saudi Arabia, said Senator Lindsey O. Graham (RS.C.) last month, even before the kingdom acknowledged that its own personnel premeditated assassination of Khashoggi and ensured the disappearance of his body.

Individual temperatures have been high, but the mid-term elections and the impossibility, during the suspension of Congress, to hold hearings on what the administration knows and wants to do have limited any coordinated oversight.

While President Trump demanded the truth and all options would be on the table, he repeatedly stressed that business as usual with Saudi Arabia was precisely what he was thinking about. He spoke of the economic importance of Saudi arms purchases in the United States, the stability of international oil markets, and what he saw as the kingdom's key role in achieving US objectives in the Middle East.

Pompeo said Trump "made it clear that we not only had important business relationships, but also important strategic relationships, national security relations with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and we intend to ensure that these relationships remain intact. "

Pompeo said that the United States would not be bound by the Turkish or Saudi version of the events, but would develop their own information and come to their own conclusions. He insists that the Saudis quickly complete their investigation into the murder, said a US official, and stressed the need for total transparency in conversations with King Salman and his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. .

"We expect the Saudis to offer something very close to what we all know," the official said. "There is not much room for maneuver." US and foreign officials have approached the delicate diplomatic case only under the guise of anonymity.

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The question of "what we all know" is the key. Saudi Arabia categorically refused any high-level approval of the Khashoggi operation. But current and former US officials, and virtually all outside experts in the kingdom, insist that the planning and execution of the murder would not have occurred without the knowledge and approval of the mighty Muhammad.

It is unlikely that the Saudis will implicate him, despite his known personal animosity towards Khashoggi, his undisputed control over affairs within the kingdom and the fact that many of those who are currently arrested are security agents working for Saudi leaders.

Turkey has almost directly accused Mohammed, a rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, of having dominated the Muslim world. "Who gave the order to kill that benevolent soul?" Asked Erdogan in an opinion piece published Friday in the Washington Post, in which Khashoggi was an editorialist. "We know that the order to kill Khashoggi comes from the highest levels of the Saudi government."

"Some people seem to hope that this" problem "will disappear in time," he wrote, pointing out that his government had "shared the evidence with our friends and allies, including the United States."

The evidence includes a recording of the murder inside the consulate, which the Turks played for CIA director Gina Haspel during her visit to Turkey last week.

Whatever the conclusion of the administration, it would be difficult to maintain the close ties that currently unite the United States to the kingdom while holding the crown prince responsible for the murder of Khashoggi.

In a speech Wednesday in Washington before the National Council on US-Arab relations, a prominent member of the Saudi royal family urged that what he called "demonization" of Saudi Arabia would have consequences.

Prince Turki al-Faisal, son of a former king and cousin of the Crown Prince, is a former Saudi intelligence chief and ambassador to the United States and Britain, as well as a close associate of Khashoggi. Recognized as one of the pillars of the royal branch of the royal family, more moderate and more open to the world, he rejected, in a remark last week before the columnist of the Post David Ignatius, any suggestion that the kingdom might want to marginalize the ambitious Mohammed. "The more criticism there is about the Crown Prince, the more popular he is in the realm," Turki said.

At the conference, Turki noted that the US-Saudi alliance had preserved the stability of oil markets and fought against terrorism, and said the "pillars" of cooperation were now "disputed". He warned, however, that "the importance of Saudi Arabia has not changed … The kingdom is the center of the Islamic world."

In addition, "people living in glass houses should not throw stones," said Turki. "The countries that tortured and incarcerated innocent people" and "launched a war that killed several thousand people. . . on the basis of fabricated information, should be humble towards others, "he said, making clear reference to the United States counter-terrorism policy and to Invasion of Iraq.

Turki suggested applying a double standard to Saudi Arabia. Innocent Palestinians "are being slaughtered every day by the Israeli army," he said. "And yet, I do not see the same media frenzy, the demand to bring the perpetrators to justice and those who have ordered them to kill these children in court."

The current controversy comes as the government prepares Monday to implement international bans on buying oil from Iran. Countries that will abide by the sanctions will have to look elsewhere for their suppliers and the government is counting on Saudi Arabia to increase its production in order to compensate for the gap and avoid a rise in oil prices at a time politically. sensitive.

An appeal launched this week by the United States to a ceasefire and negotiations in Yemen seems to have had little impact. The military coalition led by Saudi Arabia has launched a new offensive in that country, also attacking the rebel-controlled international airport in the capital, Sanaa. as the port of Hodeida, a vital bridge for humanitarian aid entering the devastated country.

During his visit to Riyadh in May 2017, Trump announced that its military sales to Saudi Arabia would reach $ 110 billion. It included agreements made under the previous Obama administration and long-term letters of intent for purchases over at least a decade in the future.

From the beginning of the administration to date, final contracts valued at approximately $ 14.5 billion have been signed, including Chinook helicopters, training agreements and a portion of approximately $ 7 billion. dollars of precision-guided ammunition, much of which has been delayed by objections to their use in Yemen.

The largest sale proposed in the $ 15 billion package for the THAAD missile defense batteries remains in negotiation after the Saudis missed the signing deadline of September 30th. Saudi Arabia has stated publicly that it is also negotiating with Russia a missile defense system, the purchase of which would entail US sanctions against countries that buy sophisticated weapons from Russia.

Defense sales go through Congress before being finalized – first for "informal" approval by presidents and to rank minority members of foreign affairs committees of the House and Senate. Once this operation is over, the Congress is officially "informed" of the proposed sale and has 30 days to oppose the majority, subject to the presidential veto.

At present, no sale of Saudi weapons has been submitted to an official review and five informal cases are subject to an indefinite suspension imposed by the minorities of the House and Senate.

Sudarsan Raghavan in Cairo contributed to this report.