Pentagon: Saudi Arabia remains strategic partner

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said Saudi Arabia "remains a strategic partner in the region" as a newly declassified U.S. intelligence report released Friday finds Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's likely approved the killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

The finding could escalate pressure on the Biden administration to hold the kingdom accountable for a murder that drew widespread outrage in the U.S. and abroad.

"From a military perspective, as I've said many times, we take seriously our security commitments to Saudi Arabia with respect to their ability to defend themselves, Kirby said Friday during a press briefing at the Pentagon.

Adding, "And they do need to defend themselves, particularly along that southern border. And it's important that we continue to be able to have frank and candid conversations about how that relationship should go forward."

The central conclusion of the report was widely expected given that intelligence officials were said to have reached it soon after the brutal October 2018 murder of Khashoggi, a critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's authoritarian consolidation of power.

Still, the public blaming amounted to an extraordinary rebuke of the ambitious 35-year-old crown prince.