On the strength of a long-awaited intelligence report, declassified on Friday, the United States says Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Ben Salman has "
validated
" an operation to "
capture or kill
" Saudi dissident and US resident Jamal Khashoggi, murdered in atrocious conditions at the Saudi consulate in 2018. “We have come to the conclusion that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed Ben Salman has validated an operation in Istanbul, Turkey, to capture or kill the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, "writes the National Intelligence Directorate in this short declassified four-page document.
Read also: A year after the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, his fiancée's fight for the truth
This report, published the day after the first telephone contact between Joe Biden and King Salman, father of MBS, estimates that the crown prince considered Khashoggi, a regular contributor to the Washington Post, as a "
threat to the kingdom and more broadly supported the recourse to violent measures if necessary to silence him
”.
Intelligence has established a list of 21 people "
responsible or accomplices
" in this assassination which caused considerable harm to Saudi Arabia.
These people could not act without "
the authorization
" of the prince, adds the report, which specifies however that they did not know if this operation would "
result in the death
" of Jamal Khashoggi.
Under thunder of criticism - including and especially in the United States among the Democrats - MBS had been saved by Donald Trump, who refused to sanction the prince, who was also supported by his father King Salman.
The findings of this report come as no surprise: they were already those of the CIA.
What will be its consequences for the relationship between Arabia and its main ally, the United States?
The Biden administration will announce sanctions and visa bans for accomplices in the assassination, US officials said.
But no sanction should be taken against MBS.
MBS, essential for Biden
Joe Biden called King Salman on Thursday, presumably to clear the effect of the intelligence report's release.
Neither of the two capitals had alluded to it in the report which followed the meeting between the two leaders.
The White House had claimed that Joe Biden's interlocutor would be the monarch.
It is likely that MBS will be snubbed by the US president, which will not prevent contacts between US officials and the young and brash crown prince.
Already the boss of the Pentagon called him.
Given the age of his father, 85, and his state of health, MBS concentrates most of the powers in Arabia, and he seems unavoidable.
As US officials said immediately after the report's publication, it is a matter of "
recalibrating
" the relationship with Arabia, without calling into question the strategic partnership, dating back more than half a century, between the United States. two countries.
Read also: US Presidential: Arabia and the Emirates fear Joe Biden
Before his election, Joe Biden had nevertheless ruled that Arabia should be treated as a "pariah" state for this affair.
The president could now use this report as a means of pressure in order to wrest from Riyadh the reforms that Washington considers essential, in particular in human rights or to put an end to the war led by Arabia in Yemen.
Critic of Saudi power after being close to it, Jamal Khashoggi was dismembered on October 2, 2018 in his country's consulate in Istanbul by a commando of agents from Saudi Arabia.
His body has never been found.
After denying the assassination, Ryad ended up saying that it had been committed by Saudi agents who acted alone.
After an opaque trial in Saudi Arabia, five Saudis were sentenced to death and three sentenced to prison terms - death sentences have since been commuted.
