Rabat – Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman reportedly yelled at President Joe Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, when asked about the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the incident happened back in September 2021 when the Saudi prince and US security advisor met at the prince’s seaside palace.
The journal stressed that Mohammed Bin Salman “ended up shouting at Sullivan after he raised the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.”
“The prince told Sullivan he never wanted to discuss the matter again,” it added.
This incident has apparently pushed US-Saudi relations to reach a “breaking point” as Bin Salman said that the US “could forget about its request to boost oil production.”
Khashoggi, 59, was a Washington Post columnist known for his criticism of the Saudi kingdom. He was assassinated and dismembered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, after going there to get paperwork for his upcoming marriage.
After a month of Khashoggi’s muder, the CIA concluded that Prince Mohammed, also known as MBS, had personally ordered Khashoggi’s murder, according to the Washington Post.
Biden has since taken a tougher stance on the Kingdom’s human rights record and the Yemen war waged by a Saudi-led coalition since March 2015.
But the crown prince has warned the US not to interfere in his country’s internal affairs, hinting at a possible breakdown in relations with Washingthon in an interview with The Atlantic.
Earlier in April, a Turkish court in Istanbul halted the trial for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi and has confirmed it will transfer the trial to Saudi Arabia.
Kashogi’s fiance responded by stating, “my fight for justice for Jamal is not over. The courts might have decided that they can ignore the truth about his case, but I will not stop and I will not be quiet about it. We all know who is guilty of Jamal’s murder and it is now more important than ever that I keep going.”
In 2020, Saudi Arabia found five people guilty of directly participating in the crime and handed them death sentences that were turned into 20-year prison sentences.
Three others were handed 7 to 10 years in prison for allegedly covering up the crime.
