Saudi Arabia hits back at US 'threats' over missing journalist

Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi regime, has been missing since he entered the country’s consulate in Turkey on 2 October.

Turkish officials say he was killed and dismembered inside the building by a 15-member Saudi “assassination squad” and say they have evidence to support their claims.

They have not made any of the information they are basing their claims on public, although pro-government Turkish press reported that audio of the killing was recorded on Mr Khashoggi’s Apple Watch.

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The Saudi statement issued via the state-run press agency on Sunday warned the kingdom would respond to any steps taken against it.

“The kingdom affirms its total rejection of any threats or attempts to undermine it whether through threats to impose economic sanctions or the use of political pressure,” an official source said, quoted by SPA.

He said Riyadh would “respond to any action with a bigger one”, pointing out that the oil superpower “plays an effective and vital role in the world economy”.

It did not directly acknowledge Mr Khashoggi’s disappearance and came shortly after the Saudi stock market plunged by nearly 7% on Sunday.

President Donald Trump has warned the US would inflict “severe punishment” if Saudi Arabia was behind his disappearance.

He told CBS: “We’re going to get to the bottom of it.”

However, Mr Trump added the US would be “punishing itself” if it cancelled military sales to Riyadh over the disappearance of the Saudi journalist.

Turkey’s Sabah newspaper, which claims Turkish officials now have the audio of the alleged killing, reports the recording was uploaded to a phone he had left with his fiancee and his iCloud, a storage facility.

It also reported that Saudi intelligence agents realised after he died that the watch was recording and tried to delete the file, first by incorrectly guessing Mr Khashoggi’s pin number on the watch, then later using the journalist’s finger.

However unlike iPhones, Apple watches do not have a fingerprint ID unlock function.

The newspaper’s account also did not elaborate on how the Apple Watch synced the information to both the phone and iCloud account.

Saudi officials call all the allegations “baseless”, but have offered no evidence Mr Khashoggi left the consulate.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of the kingdom, is pushing for Saudi Arabia to become a destination for foreign investment.

Mr Khashoggi’s disappearance, and suspicions he may have been targeted over his criticism of the royal, have led several business leaders and media outlets to back out of an upcoming high-profile investment conference in Riyadh.