News / Interviews

‘US seeking to help Saudis cover up Khashoggi murder’

Wednesday, 17 October 2018 7:53 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 17 October 2018 7:57 AM ]

A demonstrator holds picture of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi during a protest in front of Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 5, 2018. (Photo by Reuters)

The United States appears to be seeking ways to help Saudi Arabia cover up the truth surrounding the fate of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who went missing in Istanbul and is presumed to have been murdered inside the Saudi consulate there, says an analyst.

“I would imagine it sounds like the US and the Trump administration and the State Department are going to try and give Saudi Arabia a little bit of slack here and help them cover up the case of Khashoggi and his murder and so forth. That’s what it looks like,” David William Pear told Press TV in an interview on Wednesday.

“When it comes to allies like Saudi Arabia and other repressive regimes, we [the US] give them some slack. It is not like with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea or Iran or Russia; we don’t give them any slacks. So it looks like they are going to try and give them [Saudis] as much slack as they can. There is a lot of money involved and arms sales and there is this dirty war that is going on in Yemen that the US is behind,” he added.

Khashoggi, a US resident, The Washington Post columnist, and a leading critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to obtain documents for his pending marriage, but he never left the mission.

The case has shocked the international community amid reports that the journalist has been murdered in an operation ordered by bin Salman.

Turkish authorities believe he was tortured and killed inside the building by a team of Saudi operatives who removed his dismembered body.

Since Khashoggi’s disappearance, many members of the US Congress have issued strong criticism of the kingdom and pressured President Donald Trump to punish Riyadh, which is one of the United States' closest allies in the Middle East.