The United States confirmed Thursday that it will publish
"very soon"
the report of its intelligence services on the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, potentially explosive for relations with Saudi Arabia, saying it would represent
"a step important ”
so that those responsible are
“ held to account ”.
US President Joe Biden is due to speak
"very soon"
for the first time with King Salman of Saudi Arabia, the White House spokeswoman said.
Also read: Biden read report on murdered journalist Khashoggi
Then, US intelligence will make public its report on the assassination of the journalist, and there will be "a series of measures on the table," she added without further details.
The report is also expected to be published
"very soon,"
added US State Department spokesman Ned Price.
US media initially reported that the phone call was scheduled for Wednesday and the report's release Thursday.
In the meantime, the head of the American diplomacy Antony Blinken spoke on Thursday by telephone with his Saudi counterpart Faisal ben Farhan, to whom he stressed
"the importance of Saudi progress in the field of human rights, including through reforms legislative and judicial ”
, according to Ned Price.
Jamal Khashoggi, resident in the United States and columnist for the Washington Post daily, critic of Saudi power, was assassinated in 2018 in his country's consulate in Istanbul by Saudi agents.
The US Senate, which had access to the findings of the intelligence services of the world's largest power, at the time ruled that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, said MBS, was "responsible" for the murder.
But Mike Pompeo, then Secretary of State to Donald Trump, had told him that the CIA report did not contain
"any direct element linking the crown prince to the order to kill Jamal Khashoggi".
And the former Republican president had never wanted to publicly blame MBS, to preserve the alliance with Riyadh.
While it leaves the threat of new punitive measures, the Biden administration has not yet confirmed that it is ready to go so far as to sanction the prince.
The publication of the report
"is an important step towards transparency, and transparency is, as often, a component of holding those responsible to account,"
said Ned Price.
“It is a crime, as I have already said, which shocked the conscience.
We will soon be able to talk about measures to hold those responsible to account, ”
he simply said.
The White House has already warned that Joe Biden intended to
“recalibrate”
his relationship with Riyadh, by speaking only to the king and not to MBS, strongman of the kingdom and privileged interlocutor of Donald Trump, and by putting the focus on human rights.
He also ended US support for the Saudi-led military coalition intervening in the war in Yemen, and is attempting to resume dialogue with Iran, Saudi Arabia's great regional enemy.