The suspension of operational training for hundreds of Saudi military students is an extraordinary rebuke by the Pentagon, especially at a time when President Trump has tamped down suggestions that the Saudi government must be held to account on an array of recent issues.

Even before the shooting on Friday, the White House had been fighting efforts in Congress to cut military aid to the Saudis, a reflection of anger over the continuing war in Yemen and the brutal killing in Istanbul of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident and journalist who had been granted legal residence in the United States.

American intelligence findings closely tie Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and de facto leader, Mohammed bin Salman, to the murder.

Senior Defense Department officials, speaking to reporters in a hastily organized conference call on Tuesday night, insisted that suspending operational training for students from Saudi Arabia — the only country singled out for a broader review of security procedures governing the international military students — would be short-term and would not upset the strategic relationship between the two countries.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper called his Saudi counterpart, Khalid bin Salman, to discuss the new limitations on Saudi military students, who are now essentially restricted to classroom training like English language courses.