Saudi crown prince: No rift with Turkey over Khashoggi death

Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke publicly for the first time Wednesday about the disappearance and death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

It was the first public appearance of the heir apparent to the Saudi throne since Saudi Arabia admitted that Khashoggi died on Oct. 2 after visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

Speaking at the Future Investment Initiative Conference in Riyadh, the prince called the circumstances of Khashoggi's death "painful for every person" and stressed that it would not cause a split in relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a critic of the Saudi regime, was in the audience as the prince spoke. Monday, he told Turkish lawmakers that the writer's death was "brutal" and "political" in nature.

The prince added that Saudi Arabia would use all legal measures to bring Khashoggi's killers to trial.

Mohammed was a member of a conference panel on Wednesday that included Saad Hiriri, Lebanon's prime minister-designate. The prince has been accused of masterminding Hariri's kidnapping in 2017, and his televised resignation in a disagreement over growing Iranian influence in Lebanon, The Telegraph reported.

The three-day conference was planned as an investment opportunity in Saudi Arabia's "Vision 2030" economic plan, but it has been tarnished by the Khashoggi scandal. The Saudis have attempted a business-as-usual order to the event, but Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih admitted a "crisis" atmosphere in the Saudi government since Khashoggi's death.

Many of the world's leading bankers, government leaders and industry executives, including U.S. Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin, boycotted the conference.

Deals of $50 billion were announced on Tuesday, though, including 15 agreements totaling $34 billion between the state energy company Saudi Aramco and French oil company Total SA.. It was also announced that Saudi Arabia will invest $5 billion in an Arctic natural gas exploration project of the Russian energy company Novatek.