Without any specifics, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo promised that Saudi Arabia would not get away with the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
In a conversation with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Pompeo "emphasized that the United States will hold all of those involved in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi accountable, and that Saudi Arabia must do the same," spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement Sunday.
It's unclear, however, how the Trump administration plans to do that.
The crown prince has long been rumored to be behind the attack on Khashoggi, who was strangled almost immediately after entering Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul Oct. 2 to acquire a marriage license. Mohammed has denied any connection to the killing 1and 18 Saudis were arrested instead.
Four senior intelligence officials and an adviser to Mohammed were also fired, despite the fact that Saudi officials initially claimed that Khashoggi was alive and had left the consulate after his visit. They then said he died in a fight before prosecutors admitted in late October that the attack was premeditated.
Saudi assassinations may not be as rare as the government has let on to a New York Times report Sunday. Intelligence officials close to the crown prince were discussing using private companies to assassinate Iranian enemies, three sources told the newspaper.
Among the discussed targets was Qassim Suleimani, the leader of the Quds force of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Maj. Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri, the man who has been blamed for ordering Khashoggi's killing and a close adviser to the crown prince, was at the March 2017 meeting when businessmen pitched a $2 billion plan to bankrupt Iran, according to the Times. It was at that meeting that the possibility of ordered assassinations was first broached, but the businessmen reportedly refused to entertain the idea.
