CIA has recording of MbS ordering Khashoggi to be 'silenced': Turkish media

"It is being said that CIA chief Gina Haspel indicated this during her visit to Turkey", Hurriyet newspaper columnist Abdulkadir Selvi wrote on Thursday, referring to the recording of a call between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his brother, Khalid, Saudi Arabia's former ambassador to Washington.

"It is being said the crown prince gave orders to 'silence' Jamal Khashoggi as soon as possible'," in a call which was monitored by the US agency, Selvi wrote, according to a Reuters report.

Saudi Arabia has maintained that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had no knowledge of Khashoggi's killing, offering a series of contradictory explanations.

On Wednesday, Riyadh warned that its crown prince was a "red line" in the Khashoggi probe. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said that calls for the crown prince to be held accountable for the grisly killing of Jamal Khashoggi would not be tolerated.

"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.

Last week, Riyadh said Khashoggi was killed and his body dismembered after negotiations to persuade him to return to Saudi Arabia broke down.

The foreign minister insists that the violent murder was a "rogue operation" by his country's intelligence officers.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claims the orders for the Khashoggi's killing came from "the highest levels" of the Saudi government.

Khashoggi, a US resident who wrote for The Washington Post, had been critical of MbS, as the crown prince is known.