Riyadh: Donald Trump said that the US needs Saudi Arabia in the fight against terrorism and that he did not want to walk away from the Kingdom.
His comments came after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Erdogan made clear that Saudi Arabia is cooperating in the investigation, Pompeo said, the day after he met King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh.
"You know we need Saudi Arabia in terms of our fight against all of the terrorism, everything that's happening in Iran and other places,” Trump told Fox Business.
The US president said he did not want to walk away from Saudi Arabia.
“They have a tremendous order, $110 billion,” he said, in reference to US arms sales to the Kingdom.
On Tuesday, Trump criticised global condemnation of Saudi Arabia over Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance, warning of a rush to judgment and echoing the Kingdom’s request for patience.
As he returned to the US from Turkey, Pompeo said President Erdogan “made clear that the Saudis had cooperated with the investigation that the Turks are engaged in and they are going to share information.”
“There have been a couple of delays but they seemed pretty confident that the Saudis would permit them to do the things they need to do to complete their thorough and complete investigation,” he said.
He added that the US must be mindful of the important business and government ties with the Kingdom, once the facts of the case have been determined.