• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Tuesday, July 5, 2022
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home World Middle East

Saudi Vows Retaliations Against Possible Sanctions Over Khashoggi

Staff Writer by Staff Writer
10/14/18
in Middle East, World
jamal khashoggi

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Photo: AFP

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Saudi Arabia warned Sunday it would retaliate against any sanctions imposed on the oil-rich kingdom over the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as the Riyadh stock market plunged on growing investor jitters.

From tech tycoons to media giants, a host of Western companies are now distancing themselves from the Gulf state, imperiling Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s much-hyped economic reform drive.

US President Donald J. Trump threatened ally Saudi Arabia on Saturday with “severe punishment” if Khashoggi, who has been critical of Prince Mohammed, was killed inside its Istanbul mission. But Riyadh vowed to hit back against any punitive measures.

“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, quoted by state news agency SPA.

He said Riyadh would “respond to any action with a bigger one,” pointing out that the oil superpower “plays an effective and vital role in the world economy”.

According to Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television, the kingdom has “over 30 measures” that it could implement to combat sanctions.

They include using sales of oil and arms, exchange of information between Riyadh and Washington, and a possible reconciliation with regional arch-rival Iran, said the report.

Following Riyadh’s assertion it would retaliate against sanctions, Britain, France and Germany released a joint statement saying they were treating Khashoggi’s disappearance “with the utmost seriousness”.

“There needs to be a credible investigation to establish the truth about what happened, and — if relevant — to identify those bearing responsibility for the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, and ensure that they are held to account.”

The trilateral message had been conveyed “directly to the Saudi authorities,” said the statement signed by Britain’s Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt, his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian and Germany’s Heiko Maas.

Saudi Says Khashoggi Allegations Baseless

Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor, vanished after entering the consulate on October 2.

Saudi Arabia insists Khashoggi left the building safely and dismissed accusations that authorities had ordered his murder by a hit squad as “lies and baseless allegations”.

Turkey on Saturday stepped up pressure on Saudi Arabia by accusing the kingdom of failing to cooperate with a probe into the journalist’s disappearance.

Turkish officials have said they believe Khashoggi was killed inside the mission and claims have been leaked to media that he was tortured and even dismembered.

Saudi King Salman spoke to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by phone on Sunday, during which the monarch affirmed his country’s good relations with Turkey.

“No-one will get (to) undermine the strength of this relationship,” the king said, according to a statement from the Saudi foreign ministry.

According to a Turkish presidential source, who asked not to be named, Erdogan and the king discussed “the issue of shedding light on the case of Jamal Khashoggi” and also emphasized the “importance of creating a joint working group within the framework of the investigation.”

In the US, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Saudi Arabia should take Trump’s warning over the journalist’s fate seriously. “When the president warns, people should take him at his word,” he told Fox.

“If the Saudis are involved, if Khashoggi was killed or harmed or whatever, bad outcome here. He (Trump) will take action.”

Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Washington later tweeted to “clarify” Riyadh’s earlier statement. “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia extends its appreciation to all, including the U.S. administration, for refraining from jumping to conclusions on the ongoing investigation.”

Saudi Stocks Tumble

Investors have also taken fright, prompting Saudi stocks to tumble by around seven percent at one point on Sunday, wiping out their gains for 2018.

The kingdom’s Tadawul All-Shares Index (TASI) lost more than 500 points, diving by seven percent in the first two hours when trading resumed after the weekend, in panic selling reminiscent of the days after the global financial crisis in 2008.

It later clawed back some losses to close down 3.5 percent at 7,266.59 points.

Mohammed Zidan, market strategist at Thinkmarket in Dubai, said the drop in Saudi stocks was linked to the uncertainty surrounding the Khashoggi affair. “The withdrawal of top participants from the Riyadh investment conference has also negatively impacted traders’ sentiment,” he told AFP.

Business barons including British billionaire Richard Branson and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, as well as media powerhouses like Bloomberg and CNN, have pulled out of next week’s Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh.

The cancellations have cast a pall on the annual summit at which Prince Mohammed wowed investors last year with talking robots and blueprints for a futuristic mega city.

The withdrawal of Uber’s Khosrowshahi from the event is particularly symbolic as the kingdom’s vast Public Investment Fund (PIF) has invested $3.5 billion in the ride-hailing app.

Branson, who dropped two directorships linked to Saudi tourism projects around the Red Sea, said claims about Khashoggi’s disappearance would “change the ability of any of us in the West to do business with the Saudi government”.

Washington lobbying firm Harbour group which represented the Saudi government has also terminated its $80,000 per month contract, the firm’s managing director Richard Mintz said.

Additionally, actor Gerard Butler pulled out of a trip to the kingdom, where he was scheduled to attend the premiere of his new movie “Hunter Killer”.

“We heard about Khashoggi going missing the day before we were supposed to leave… and it just didn’t feel like a smart move,” the 48-year-old Scot told CNN on Saturday.

Share3Tweet
Staff Writer

Staff Writer

AFP with The Globe Post

Related Posts

Mohammed bin Salman
Democracy at Risk

HRW Labels Saudi Mass Execution ‘Brutal Show of Autocratic Rule’

by Staff Writer
March 15, 2022
Justin Bieber
Lifestyle

‘Weaponizing Bieber’ – Canadian Pop Star Caught Up in Saudi Rights Row

by Staff Writer
December 1, 2021
Ali al-Nimr
Democracy at Risk

Saudi Releases Shiite Ex-Death Row Prisoner Al-Nimr: Rights Group

by Staff Writer
October 27, 2021
Saudi Arabia Covid vaccination
Business

Saudi Ups Pressure on Anti-Vaxxers as It Eyes Economic Recovery

by Staff Writer
May 24, 2021
Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed on October 2, 2018, while he was inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.
World

Reporters Without Borders Sue Saudi Prince Over Khashoggi Murder

by Staff Writer
March 2, 2021
Hatice Cengiz delivers a speech addressing the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Capitol Hill, May 16, 2019.
Media Freedom

Khashoggi Fiancée Demands Punishment for Saudi Prince

by Staff Writer
March 1, 2021
Next Post
Protestors demonstrate against the Hungarian government law that targets the Central European University in Budapest

Hungarian Government's Spectacular Phase of Attacks Against Academia

Girl on a Hilltop girls' education Afghan girls

Three Million Afghans in 'Urgent' Need of Food [UN]

Recommended

Shireen Abu Akleh

US Says Al Jazeera Journalist Likely Shot by Israel But Not Intentionally

July 4, 2022
Google logo

Google to Pay $90 Mn in Settlement With App Developers

July 1, 2022
Mexico murdered journalists

Journalist Murdered in Mexico, 12th This Year

June 29, 2022
Spain migrants

Spain Prosecutor Opens Probe Into Melilla Migrant Deaths

June 28, 2022
Afghan refugees

Pakistani Migrants in Afghanistan Caught in Quake No-Man’s Land

June 27, 2022
Joe Biden climate summit

Biden Calls Clean Energy Matter of National Security in Face of Russia War

June 17, 2022

Opinion

US President Donald Trump

Owning the Words and the Libs

June 16, 2022
Officers in Uvalde, Texas, stand outside Robb Elementary School near a makeshift memorial for the shooting victims

Child Sacrifice Makes a Comeback

June 3, 2022
A Lebanese election official stands at a polling station

New Group Threatens Lebanese Elections… and Potentially Middle East Peace

May 18, 2022
A man holding a gun

Safely Back in USA, Land of Guns and Burgers

May 2, 2022
China Muslim Uyghurs

Unfair Politicization, Corruption, and the Death of Modern Olympism

April 23, 2022
Ukraine war

The Ukrainian Refugee Crisis and the Hierarchies of Western Compassion

April 20, 2022
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post