President Trump vowed \u201csevere punishment\u201d if the Saudis were behind a dissident\u2019s disappearance. The Saudis said they would \u201crespond with greater action.\u201d<\/b>
\nISTANBUL \u2014 The disappearance of the Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi is opening a rift between Washington and Saudi Arabia as the kingdom blasted President Trump on Sunday for promising \u201csevere punishment\u201d if the royal court was responsible.
If Saudi Arabia \u201creceives any action, it will respond with greater action,\u201d the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement, citing the oil-rich kingdom\u2019s \u201cinfluential and vital role in the global economy.\u201d
Saudi Arabia \u201caffirms its total rejection of any threats and attempts to undermine it, whether by threatening to impose economic sanctions, using political pressures, or repeating false accusations,\u201d the Foreign Ministry said.
The \u201caccusations\u201d at issue are the claims of Turkish officials that a team of Saudi agents killed and dismembered Mr. Khashoggi, a United States resident and columnist for The Washington Post who was last seen entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on the afternoon of Oct. 2.
The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and other Saudi officials have said they have no knowledge of Mr. Khashoggi\u2019s fate.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has demanded an explanation.
But other Turkish officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity and citing confidential intelligence, have let out a steady stream of leaks detailing what they say was Mr. Khashoggi\u2019s brutal murder at the hands of a 15-member Saudi team sent to Turkey that day on two private jets with the mission to kill him.
Those leaks have contributed to rising pressure from Congress and other Western governments for Saudi Arabia to explain what happened. Although security camera footage shows Mr. Khashoggi entering the consulate, no evidence has emerged that shows him exiting. His fianc\u00e9e has said she waited outside into the night.
On Sunday, Britain, France and Germany issued a joint statement demanding a \u201ccredible investigation to establish the truth about what happened, and \u2014 if relevant \u2014 to identify those bearing responsibility for the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, and ensure that they are held to account.\u201d
The foreign ministers of all three European governments said in the statement that they \u201cexpect the Saudi Government to provide a complete and detailed response\u201d and that \u201cwe have conveyed this message directly to the Saudi authorities.\u201d
In Washington, lawmakers of both parties had already demanded some sanctions if Saudi Arabia is proved responsible for Mr. Khashoggi\u2019s death, and on Sunday, more added their voices.
\u201cIf this is proven to be true, there is going to be a response from Congress,\u201d Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, said Sunday in an interview on \u201cMeet the Press\u201d on NBC. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be nearly unanimous. It\u2019s going to be swift. And it\u2019s going to go pretty far.\u201d
\u201cOur moral credibility,\u201d Mr. Rubio said, \u201cis undermined and compromised if we somehow decide that because an ally who is important did that, we\u2019re not going to call it out.\u201d
The threats of retaliation from the West sent the Saudi stock market plunging as much as 7 percent on Sunday, the first day of the business week in the kingdom.
The Saudi statement criticizing Mr. Trump did not repeat the previous assertions of the crown prince and others that Mr. Khashoggi had left the consulate freely. But the statement also offered no further information about his disappearance.
On Friday, a Saudi delegation led by Prince Khaled bin Faisal visited Ankara to meet with Mr. Erdogan. Prince Khaled, 78, is a senior member of the family, the governor of Mecca, and an adviser to King Salman, so his role in the mission underscored the seriousness of the crisis in the eyes of the king.
But Prince Khaled\u2019s delegation left Ankara after a few hours without making any statement. Then late Sunday night, King Salman himself called Mr. Erdogan. A semiofficial Turkish news agency said they had discussed the importance of a joint investigation.
Mr. Trump has embraced Saudi Arabia as his administration\u2019s pre-eminent Arab ally. He made Riyadh the destination of his first foreign trip as president, and his White House has been especially supportive of the 33-year old crown prince. Mr. Trump repeatedly expressed his confidence in the young prince even while he was still challenging older family members for dominance of the royal court.
And the president\u2019s adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has reportedly formed an especially close partnership with Prince Mohammed, who holds most of the power inside the kingdom and acts as day-to-day ruler on behalf of his elderly father.
The Saudi statement on Sunday was the first sign of tension between the president and the crown prince.
Until now, Prince Mohammed has had nothing but high praise for Mr. Trump, even after potentially awkward statements like his campaign pledge to ban Muslims from entering the United States or his more recent demands that Saudi Arabia pay more for its own defense.
\u201cYou might not be there for two weeks without us,\u201d Mr. Trump recently said he had told King Salman.
Mr. Trump\u2019s statements about Mr. Khashoggi, however, may have touched a nerve.
On Sunday, in an interview with CBS News, he appeared to treat the allegations about the missing dissident with new seriousness. \u201cThere\u2019s something really terrible and disgusting about that, if that was the case, so we\u2019re going to have to see,\u201d Mr. Trump said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to get to the bottom of it, and there will be severe punishment.\u201d
\u201cAs of this moment, they deny it and they deny it vehemently,\u201d he later said, adding, \u201cCould it be them? Yes.\u201d
Mr. Trump, though, repeated his opposition to any suggestion that the United States curtail its weapons sales to Saudi Arabia, one of the biggest arms buyers in the world. If the United States cut off the lucrative arms sales, \u201cwe would be punishing ourselves,\u201d he Trump said.<\/p>\n

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