Pressed on vanished writer, Saudi Arabia attacks
Pressed on vanished writer, Saudi Arabia attacks
Saudi Arabia has threatened to retaliate for the sanctions imposed against it after the President Donald Trump He said the oil-rich kingdom deserves a "severe punishment" if it is responsible for the disappearance and alleged murder of Washington Post collaborator Jamal Khashoggi.
The warning from the world's top oil exporter came after a turbulent day in the Saudi Arabian stock market, which plummeted to 7 percent on Sunday.
The statement was issued as international concern grew over the writer who disappeared on a visit to the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul more than a week ago. US lawmakers threatened harsh punitive measures against the Saudis, and Germany, France and Britain jointly called for a "credible investigation" into the disappearance of Khashoggi.
Turkish officials have said they fear a Saudi team that killed and dismembered Khashoggi, who wrote critically about Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The kingdom described such accusations as "unfounded", but has offered no evidence that Khashoggi has left the consulate.
Already, international business leaders are withdrawing from the kingdom's next investment forum, a high-profile event known as "Davos in the desert", and the mass sale on the Riyadh stock exchange in Tadawul showed that investors are restless.
The exchange was reduced by more than 500 points, then recovered some of the losses, ending the day with 264 points, or more than 4 percent. Of 188 shares traded on the stock exchange, 179 ended the day with a loss.
"Something this big would definitely scare off investors, and Saudi Arabia opened up to foreign direct investment, so it was big," said Issam Kassabieh, a financial analyst at Dubai-based Menacorp Finance. "Investors still do not feel solid in Saudi Arabia, so it's easy for them to recover their funds."
In an interview aired on Sunday, Trump told CBS "60 Minutes" that Saudi Arabia he would face strong consequences if he were involved in the disappearance of Khashoggi.
"There's something really terrible and disgusting about that, if that's the case, so we'll have to see it," Trump said. "We are going to get to the bottom, and there will be a severe punishment."
But the president also said that "we would be punishing ourselves" by canceling arms sales to Saudi Arabia. Sales are a "tremendous request for our companies," and if the Saudis do not buy their US weapons. You will get it from others, he said.
In a statement issued by the Saudi news agency, the kingdom warned that if "it receives some action, it will respond with more action and that the economy of the kingdom has an influential and vital role in the global economy."
"The kingdom affirms its total rejection of any threat and tries to undermine it, threatening to impose economic sanctions, using political pressure or repeating false accusations," the statement said.
The statement did not give more details. However, a column published in English a short time later by the general manager of the Saudi-owned satellite news network Al-Arabiya suggested that Saudi Arabia could use its oil production as a weapon. Benchmark Brent crude is trading at around $ 80 per barrel, and Trump has criticized OPEC and Saudi Arabia for rising prices.
"If the price of oil that reached $ 80 angered President Trump, no one should rule out that the price goes up to $ 100, or $ 200, or even twice that amount," Turki Aldakhil wrote.
It is not clear, however, if Saudi Arabia would be willing to cut production unilaterally.
Aldakhil added that arms purchases from Saudi Arabia to the United States and other commercial exchanges could also be at risk. "The truth is that if Washington imposes sanctions on Riyadh, it will stab to death its own economy, even though it thinks it only stabs Riyadh!" he wrote.
The Saudi embassy in Washington tweeted Sunday night that it appreciated the United States "for refraining from jumping to conclusions about the ongoing investigation", probably trying to turn back the rhetoric.
Meanwhile, Saudi King Salman spoke on the phone with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about Khashoggi. Turkey Erdogan said that "he emphasized forming a joint working group to investigate the case." Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia said that King Salman thanked Erdogan "for having accepted the proposal of the kingdom" for forming the working group.
The king also said that Turkey and Saudi Arabia enjoy close relations and "that no one will manage to undermine the strength of this relationship," according to a statement from the Saudi Press Agency. While Turkey and the kingdom differ on political issues, Saudi investments are a crucial lifeline for Ankara in the midst of problems with its lira currency.
Prince Mohammed, son of King Salman, has aggressively launched the kingdom as a destination for foreign investment. But the disappearance of Khashogui has led several business leaders and media outlets to withdraw from the upcoming investment conference in Riyadh, called the Future Investment Initiative. They include the CEO of Uber, a company in which Saudi Arabia has invested billions of dollars; the billionaire Richard Branson; The CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co., Jamie Dimon; and Ford Motor Co. CEO Bill Ford.
Khashoggi has written extensively for the Post on Saudi Arabia, criticizing his war in Yemen, his recent diplomatic row with Canada and the arrest of women's rights activists after the ban on driving women was lifted. Those policies are all seen as initiatives of the crown prince.
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Associated Press reporter Malak Harb contributed to this report.
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