*UPDATES WITH MORE STATE DEPARTMENT STATEMENTS
By Viola Fahmy
RIYADH (AA) – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday met Saudi King Salman in Riyadh for talks on missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The discussions tackled “historic relations between the two countries and the current situation in the region and the joint efforts done towards them,” the official Saudi SPA news agency reported.
The meeting was attended by senior Saudi officials, including Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, Interior Minister Prince Abdul Aziz bin Saud bin Nayef, Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. Prince Khalid bin Salman and U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale.
No further details were given but the State Department later said Pompeo “thanked the King for his commitment to supporting a thorough, transparent, and timely investigation of Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance. ”
The top U.S. diplomat also reiterated U.S. President Donald Trump's “concern with respect to ” Khashoggi's disappearance when he met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “as well as the President’s desire to determine what happened, ” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.
“The Secretary welcomed Saudi Arabia’s support of the Turkish authorities’ investigation, ” Nauert said. “The Secretary and the Crown Prince agreed on the importance of a thorough, transparent, and timely investigation that provides answers. ”
Pompeo, who arrived in Riyadh earlier in the day, will visit Turkey on Wednesday to meet his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu.
On Monday, Trump dispatched Pompeo to meet the Saudi king to discuss the disappearance of Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and columnist for the Washington Post newspaper.
Khashoggi is feared killed at the consulate after he entered on Oct. 2 and was never seen exiting.
Trump raised the possibility that “rogue killers ” could have been responsible for Khashoggi's disappearance after a telephone comversation with the king for 20 minutes Monday.
Trump said Salman “firmly denies ” any knowledge of Khashoggi's disappearance.
Earlier Monday, Turkish and Saudi officials arrived at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul after the start of a joint probe into the missing journalist.
Saudi authorities have yet to give a clear explanation of what happened to Khashoggi, while several countries — particularly Turkey, the U.S., and the U.K. — are pressing for the mystery to be cleared up as soon as possible.
