WASHINGTON — Facing mounting criticism for appearing smiling and eager to maintain business-as-usual relations with his Saudi hosts yesterday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted today that he has confidence in a Saudi investigation of the suspected murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but conceded that the US administration does not want to see US-Saudi relations suffer depending on what they find.

“Look, we had very direct conversations about this, the seriousness of this, how serious President Trump is taking this, how seriously the United States will take this,” Pompeo told reporters traveling with him on a refueling stop in Brussels today after briefly stopping in Turkey for meetings with Turkish officials. “But, as for responses that the United States will take, we need to know the facts before we can begin to formulate what the appropriate response for this would be.”

“I do think it's important that everyone keep in their mind that we have lots of important relationships — financial relationships between US and Saudi companies, governmental relationships, things we work on together all across the world — efforts to reduce the risk to the United States of America from the world's largest state sponsor of terror, Iran," Pompeo continued. "The Saudis have been great partners in working alongside us on those issues.”

Pompeo was photographed looking upbeat and convivial with Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (often known by his initials MBS) at his long meetings in Riyadh yesterday, which he called “incredibly successful.” He stayed overnight in the Saudi capital, yet he never left the airport in Ankara. He spent roughly 40 minutes meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, followed by a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. Neither Pompeo nor his Turkish hosts spoke to reporters after their meetings, and Pompeo’s plane departed Ankara only three hours after landing.