CIA has phone call of Saudi Crown Prince on Khashoggi murder: Turkish newspaper

A phone recording of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in which he can be heard given instructions to “silence Jamal Khashoggi as soon as possible,” is in possession of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Turkish newspaper Hurriyet claimed on Thursday.

According to the paper’s columnist Abdulkadir Selvi, CIA Director Gina Haspel signalled during her Ankara trip last month the existence of a wiretapped phone call between the Crown Prince and his brother Khaled bin Salman.

The columnist further claims that his sources have informed that two Saudi officials can be heard in the recording discussing the “discomfort” created by The Washington Post journalist's criticism of the kingdom’s administration.

Khashoggi, a US resident who wrote for The Washington Post and had been critical of Prince Mohammed, was lured to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, killed and reportedly dismembered.

Saudi Arabia has warned criticism of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is a "red line" after Donald Trump heaped praise on the kingdom in defiance of warnings he was giving Riyadh a pass on a journalist's grisly murder.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Wednesday that calls for the crown prince to be held accountable for the grisly killing of Jamal Khashoggi would not be tolerated.

His comments came as the US president praised Saudi Arabia for keeping oil prices low -- one strand of his argument against punishing Riyadh even though the CIA reportedly found strong evidence that the crown prince, the de facto Saudi leader, was involved in the murder.

"In Saudi Arabia, our leadership is a red line. The custodian of the two holy mosques (King Salman) and the crown prince are a red line," Jubeir told the BBC.

"They represent every Saudi citizen and every Saudi citizen represents them. And we will not tolerate any discussion of anything that is disparaging towards our monarch or our crown prince."