Donald Trump has warned of “severe punishment” if Saudi Arabia are behind the suspected killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
However he stopped short of threatening sanctions against the country, specifically the banning of arms sales, saying this would hurt US jobs.
Mr Trump said the US would be “very upset and angry” if Saudi authorities were found responsible.
“They deny it, they deny it every way you can imagine,” the president said. “In the not too distant future I think we’ll know an answer."
He added, in an interview with CBS News: “We’re going to get to the bottom of it and there will be severe punishment.”
The US, along with the UK, are also considering boycotting a major international conference in Saudi Arabia over the fate of Mr Khashoggi, according to the BBC.
Sponsors and media groups have already pulled out of next month's investment conference in Riyadh, dubbed Davos in the Desert.
It comes amid reports Mr Khashoggi may have recorded his own “interrogation, torture and killing” on his Apple Watch.
A Turkish newspaper said officials in the country have an audio recording from the watch he wore when he walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul 12 days ago.
The claim, published by the Sabah newspaper, came amid mounting pressure on Saudi Arabia to explain what happened to Mr Khashoggi.
The kingdom has maintained the allegations against it are "baseless".
