Saudi King Salman and his son Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have called Jamal Khashoggi's eldest son to express their condolences over the journalist's death.

The rulers phoned Saleh Khashoggi more than two weeks after his father went missing having entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to get papers so he could marry his Turkish fiancee.

Saudi Arabia only admitted the Washington Post journalist was dead after weeks of denying anything to do with his disappearance.

The government has claimed that Khashoggi, a prominent critic of Saudi rulers, died during a fistfight in the consulate. Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir has since admitted the writer was murdered but that the killing was a 'tremendous mistake' by a 'rogue operation'.

US President Donald Trump has defended Prince Mohammed's leadership and praised him for having 'very good control' – but added in an interview: 'Obviously there's been deception and there's been lies. Their stories are all over the place.'

More than two weeks after Jamal Khashoggi was murdered, Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman offered their condolences to his family. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs released this official image to announce the news

The image comes as it was revealed that Prince Mohammed was reportedly shocked by the backlash against Khashoggi's murder and Saudi Arabia's response to it

Saudia Arabia's royal court put out an official image, featuring both King Salman and Prince Mohammed's pictures, to announce the phone call to Saleh.

'The leadership extends condolences to the family of Jamal Khashoggi,' the headline of the image read.

'Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud extends condolences to the family and relatives of Jamal Khashoggi.'

'Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Vice President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Defense, has made a phone call with Saleh Khashoggi, in which he offers condolences to him and his family on the death of Jamal Khashoggi.'

The image comes as it was revealed that Prince Mohammed was reportedly shocked by the backlash against Khashoggi's murder and Saudi Arabia's response to it.

His royal court was 'relaxed' when news of Khashoggi's disappearance first broke, a source close to Saudi Arabia's royal family told the Wall Street Journal.

'Then it snowballed. When things started heated up in the States, everybody started getting worried,' the source added.

And no one was reportedly more surprised than the Crown Prince, who couldn't see why the story was 'such a big deal'.

'He was really shocked that there was such a big reaction to it,' added another source close to the royal court.

Prince Mohammed (pictured with Donald Trump in March) has continued to deny any knowledge over the journalist's murder and continues to receive support from Trump

Merkel: No arms for Riyadh while questions remain over killing Germany will not export arms to Saudi Arabia while the current uncertainty over the fate of journalist Jamal Khashoggi persists, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday. Campaigning for her party in a regional election, Merkel repeated to a news conference her earlier condemnation of Khashoggi's killing, which Saudi Arabia admitted had taken place inside its consulate in Istanbul. 'First, we condemn this act in the strongest terms,' she said. 'Second, there is an urgent need to clarify what happened - we are far from this having been cleared up and those responsible held to account ... As far as arms exports are concerned, those can't take place in the current circumstances.' Today, a top German official pressed for a joint EU position on Saudi Arabia after Berlin backed a freeze on arms exports to the kingdom. Economy Minister Peter Altmaier underlined Monday its position that 'we won't at this point approve any further arms exports because we want to know what happened.' Altmaier told ZDF television that a joint EU position is needed 'because only if all European countries agree, this will make an impression on the government in Riyadh.' He said 'it will have no positive consequences if we, as we are doing, currently don't pursue our arms exports if at the same time other countries fill this gap.' Advertisement

'He feels betrayed by the West. He said he will never forget how people turned against him before evidence was produced.'

The furor surrounding Khashoggi's death has showed no signs of slowing down since he first vanished at the beginning of the month.

After weeks of denying they knew anything about Khashoggi's disappearance, the Saudi government confirmed he was dead.

On Sunday a Saudi official claimed that Khashoggi was killed by 'rogue' operatives who placed him 'in a chokehold position' to prevent him from leaving the consulate and calling for help.

The official said Mr Khashoggi after resisting attempts to return him to Saudi Arabia before his body was rolled in a rug and given to a local 'co-operator' to dispose of.

Eighteen men have since been detained by the government in connection with Khashoggi's murder.

Prince Mohammed was reportedly so astounded by the international response to Khashoggi that he even reached out to Jared Kushner.

He reportedly called Kushner on October 10 - eight days after Khashoggi disappeared - and asked him 'why the outrage', according to sources who were briefed on the phone conversation.

Kushner and National Security Adviser John Bolton then reportedly told the prince that he needed to 'get to the bottom of Mr Khashoggi's disappearance fast'.

Trump has since tried to downplay Kushner and the prince's friendship, telling reporters on Saturday that they are just 'two young guys' who are the 'same age'.

Prince Mohammed was reportedly so astounded by the response to the story that he called up Jared Kushner days after Khashoggi disappeared. They are pictured here together with Trump in May 2017

Trump has since tried to downplay Kushner and the prince's friendship, telling reporters on Saturday that they are just 'two young guys' who are the 'same age'

He also claimed that Kushner, 37, barely knows the 33-year-old prince, even though the two men have had several one-on-one meetings and are reported to communicate with each other via WhatsApp - a private messaging system.

Prince Mohammed and Kushner held their first White House meeting in March 2017. They have had additional face-to-face meetings at least four more times and are said to have bonded given their close ages and powerful positions within their families.

'They're two young guys. Jared doesn't know him well or anything. They are just two young people. They are the same age. They like each other, I believe,' the president told The Washington Post.

But behind closed doors, sources said Trump is frustrated that his son-in-law's close relationship with the Crown Prince has become a liability in the international crisis.

Meanwhile Kushner has been urging the president to stand by the prince and argues that he can survive this scandal just as he has with others in the past, according to The New York Times.

Prince Mohammed has denied involvement with the disappearance of Khashoggi, who was a fierce critic of his policies

And Trump seems to be listening to his son-in-law.

Even as he criticized Saudi Arabia's explanation for Khashoggi's death on Saturday, the president had no harsh words for the Crown Prince.

'Obviously there's been deception and there's been lies. Their stories are all over the place,' Trump told the Washington Post on Saturday.

But in the same interview, Trump defended Prince Mohammed's leadership and praised him for having 'very good control'.

He went on to say he had seen no evidence that the Crown Prince ordered, or even knew about, the killing of Khashoggi.

'Nobody has told me he's responsible. Nobody has told me he's not responsible. We haven't reached that point. I haven't heard either way,' Trump said.

'There is a possibility he found out about it afterward. It could be something in the building went badly awry. It could be that's when he found about it. He could have known they were bringing him back to Saudi Arabia.'

It comes as top US lawmakers turned their ire on the Crown Prince, saying they believed he ordered the killing of the Saudi journalist earlier this month.

Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir (pictured) insisted on Sunday that Prince Mohammed was 'not aware' of the killing and that the regime was still working on finding the body

An activist dressed as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman marches in front the White House during a demonstration calling for sanctions against Saudi Arabia on Friday

'Do I think he did it? Yes, I think he did it,' Republican Senator Bob Corker, the influential chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in an interview with CNN.

Corker, who received a classified briefing on the case on Friday, said he was waiting for investigations to be completed and hoped that Turkey would share any audio tapes of the killing of Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul two weeks ago.

Two members of the royal family claim that Prince Khalid al Faisal, an envoy of King Salman, has access to evidence that disproves Saudi Arabia's current story of how Khashoggi was killed.

They claim Prince Khalid al Faisal has an audio recording that proves Khashoggi was drugged, killed, and dismembered within minutes of walking into the consulate.

'The audio does not have this nonsense about a fight that broke after an argument,' one royal member told the Wall Street Journal.

'This is not what Khalid told the king and his friends. This is absolutely rubbish.'

CCTV video shows a black van in front of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, the day that Khashoggi was murdered

A journalist shoots video behind barriers blocking the road leading to Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul, where Khashoggi was killed

Corker made it clear that he believed the murder was directed by Prince Mohammed.

'Let's let this play out, but my guess is that at the end of the day the United States and the rest of the world will believe fully that he did it,' Corker told CNN.

Prince Mohammed has denied involvement with the disappearance of Khashoggi, a fierce critic of his policies.

His foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, went on US television to insist that the killing was a mistake, and sought to shield the powerful prince from the widening crisis.

'He was killed in the consulate. We don't know in terms of details how. We don't know where the body is,' the foreign minister told Fox News on Sunday.

'This was an operation that was a rogue operation, this was an operation where individuals ended up exceeding their authorities and responsibilities they had.'

'They made a mistake when they killed Jamal Khashoggi in the consulate and they tried to cover up for it.'

Despite the controversy, Saudi Arabia's King Salman (pictured) granted his heir new powers over Saudi Arabia's intelligence bodies on Saturday

'We are determined to uncover every stone. We are determined to punish those who are responsible for this murder.'

On Saturday, Trump joined European leaders in pushing Saudi Arabia for more answers after Riyadh changed its story and acknowledged that the journalist died at the consulate.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who is traveling in the region, said on Sunday the Saudi explanation was a 'good first step but not enough'.

He said it was premature to discuss sanctions, in line with Trump administration efforts to censure a killing that has drawn international outrage while also protecting relations with the Saudis.

Despite the international controversy, Prince Mohammed isn't in danger of losing power anytime soon.

King Salman granted his heir new powers over Saudi Arabia's intelligence bodies on Saturday and sources say Prince Mohammed's power remains 'largely unchecked'.

Saudi hitman 'dressed in victim's clothes and glasses to pretend he'd left embassy'

By Larisa Brown, Middle East Correspondent for the Daily Mail

One of the Saudi hitmen dressed up in Jamal Khashoggi's clothes to make it appear as if he had left Saudi Arabia's Istanbul consulate, according to the country's latest explanation.

A senior official said operative Mustafa Madani also wore the 59-year-old's glasses and Apple watch and left through the back door.

He said the journalist had been placed in a chokehold during which he accidentally died – and then his body was smuggled out of the building in a rolled-up carpet.

On Friday the kingdom admitted Mr Khashoggi was dead after repeatedly claiming the high-profile critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had walked out of the consulate unharmed.

It said the journalist was killed in a 'fist fight' and that the government had fired five top officials and arrested 18 others as a result of the initial investigation.

CCTV footage shows journalist Jamal Khashoggi and his fiancee Hatice Cengiz together just hours before his death on October 2

Yesterday Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir told Fox News: 'Unfortunately, a huge and grave mistake was made and I assure them that those responsible will be held accountable for this.' He added: 'We don't know where the body is.'

It came after a senior Saudi official, who requested anonymity, contradicted previous explanations. He said the team of 15 Saudis sent to confront Mr Khashoggi on October 2 had threatened him with being drugged and kidnapped, and then killed him in a chokehold when he resisted.

Madani then donned Mr Khashoggi's clothes, glasses and Apple watch before leaving the building to make it look like the journalist had left, it was claimed.

The body was then rolled up in a rug, taken out in a consular vehicle and given to a 'local co-operator' for disposal, he added. Forensic expert Salah Tubaigy tried to remove any trace of the incident, the official said.

Madani later went to the Sultanahmet district where he disposed of Mr Khashoggi's belongings, it was claimed. Asked about claims the journalist had been tortured and beheaded, the official said preliminary results of the investigation did not suggest so.

The government wanted to convince Mr Khashoggi, who moved to Washington a year ago fearing reprisals for his views, to return to the kingdom as part of a campaign to prevent dissidents from being recruited by Saudi Arabia's enemies, the official said.

Khashoggi's fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, (pictured) said he had handed her his two mobile phones and left instructions that she should wait for him and call an aide to Turkey's president if he did not reappear

But things soon went wrong as the team overstepped their orders and quickly employed violence, he added.

It was claimed Mr Khashoggi told one of the men, Maher Mutreb, that he was violating diplomatic norms and said: 'What are you going to do with me? Do you intend to kidnap me?' Mutreb replied, 'Yes, we will drug you and kidnap you,' in what the official said was an attempt at intimidation that violated the mission's objective. When Mr Khashoggi raised his voice, the team panicked. They moved to restrain him, placing him in a chokehold and covering his mouth, according to the government's account.

'They tried to prevent him from shouting but he died,' the official said. 'The intention was not to kill him.'

Asked if the team had smothered Mr Khashoggi, the official explained: 'If you put someone of Jamal's age in this position, he would probably die.'

The official said the team then wrote a false report for superiors saying they had allowed Mr Khashoggi to leave once he warned that Turkish authorities could get involved.

The Saudi authorities initially dismissed reports that Mr Khashoggi had gone missing inside the consulate as false and said he had left the building soon after entering. When the Press reported a few days later that he had been killed there, they called the accusations 'baseless'.

Turkish officials believe the Saudis may have dumped his remains in Belgrad Forest near Istanbul, and at a rural location near the city of Yalova, 55 miles south of Istanbul.

Yesterday Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would reveal the 'naked truth' about the killing at a briefing tomorrow.