US calls for ‘transparent’ Saudi probe into Khashoggi’s fate

The United States has called on the government of Saudi Arabia to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation into the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, US Department of State spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a press briefing on Tuesday.

The kingdom has denied killing Khashoggi in the Saudi embassy in Istanbul, but has not provided an explanation of what happened to the journalist and government critic after he entered the embassy to complete paperwork on the eve of his marriage.

There are growing calls in Washington for firmer action against Saudi Arabia, should Turkish suspicions that he was murdered go unanswered, let alone prove true.

Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher reports from Washington, DC.