Saudi prince ‘knew nothing’

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Mohammed bin Salman knew nothing about the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents, offering a fierce defense of the visiting Saudi crown prince that contradicted a US intelligence assessment.

The controversy over the killing of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and US-based critic of the Saudi leadership, flared again in the Oval Office in front of cameras as the kingdom's de facto ruler made his first White House visit in more than seven years, seeking to further rehabilitate his global image tarnished by the incident.

Trump later announced that he was designating Saudi Arabia as a major non-Nato ally, and the two sides announced agreements on arms sales, civil nuclear cooperation, artificial intelligence and critical minerals.

The White House announced Trump had approved future deliveries of F-35 fighter jets and the Saudis had agreed to purchase 300 American tanks.

US intelligence agencies concluded that bin Salman approved the capture or killing of Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The crown prince denied ordering the operation but acknowledged responsibility as the kingdom's de facto ruler.

"A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about, whether you like him or didn't like him," Trump told reporters, with bin Salman sitting beside him. "Things happened, but he knew nothing about it, and we can leave it at that."

Bin Salman said it had been "painful" to hear about Khashoggi's death but that his government "did all the right steps of investigation." "We've improved our system to be sure that nothing happened like that. And it's painful and it's a huge mistake," he told reporters.

Trump, who chided the reporter who asked the Khashoggi question "to embarrass our guest," also praised the crown prince for doing an "incredible" job on human rights, but did not elaborate.

Sitting next to Trump, bin Salman promised to increase his country's US investment to $1 trillion from a $600 billion pledge he made when Trump visited Saudi Arabia in May. But he offered no details or timetable.

The two countries also signed a joint declaration on the completion of negotiations on civil nuclear energy cooperation, which the White House said would build the legal foundation for a long-term nuclear energy partnership.

Bin Salman has been seeking a deal to unlock access to US nuclear technology and help Saudi Arabia level up with the UAE and traditional regional foe Iran. But progress on such a nuclear pact has been difficult because the Saudis have resisted a US stipulation that would rule out enriching uranium or reprocessing spent fuel - both potential paths to a bomb.