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Saudi dismisses threat of sanctions over Khashoggi, warns of retaliation

WION Web Team
Delhi, IndiaUpdated: Oct 14, 2018, 05:21 PM IST
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Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi writer and columnist, was killed in October 2018 after entering the consulate to obtain the paperwork he needed to marry his Turkish fiancée. Photograph:(Reuters)

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Turkey's foreign minister on Saturday accused Saudi Arabia of so far failing to cooperate in the probe into the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. 

Saudi Arabia on Sunday dismissed threats of sanctions over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi adding that it will retaliate if any such action is taken against the oil-rich country.

"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, news agency AFP reported.

"The kingdom also affirms that it will respond to any action with a bigger one," the source said.

Turkey's foreign minister on Saturday accused Saudi Arabia of so far failing to cooperate in the probe into the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at its consulate in Istanbul and called on Riyadh to grant access to Turkish investigators.

"We still have not seen cooperation in order to ensure a smooth investigation and bring everything to light. We want to see this," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted as saying by state-run Anadolu news agency, adding that Riyadh must let Turkish "prosecutors and experts enter the consulate".

US President Donald Trump on Saturday alleged that Saudi Arabia could be behind the disappearance of missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Trump also warned of "severe punishment" if the same turns out to be true, news agency AFP reported.

"We're going to get to the bottom of it and there will be severe punishment," Trump told US media.

"As of this moment, they deny it and they deny it vehemently. Could it be them? Yes," Trump said in the interview, which was conducted on Thursday. 

(With inputs from AFP