Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has said that the media has played a negative role in their coverage of the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and said that the army will defend Gulf countries against threats.
The president added that Saudi Arabia s stability cannot be undermined, according to Egypt s state news agency MENA.
"We are confident about the wise and rational administration of the kingdom under the leadership of Saudi King Salman Bin Abdel Aziz," El-Sisi said during a meeting with foreign media journalists in the resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh.
The president called on the public to wait for the results of the Saudi investigation into the killing, which has sparked an international outcry.
Khashoggi, a well-known Saudi journalist who was critical of some of the policies of the kingdom, disappeared after entering his country s consulate in Istanbul on 2 October.
The international community and major international media outlets have called on the Saudi government to account for the killing of Khashoogi in a transparent manner.
Saudi officials, who initially said that Khashoggi had left the consulate, later announced that he was killed inside the consulate.
The Saudi authorities have since arrested 18 Saudi nationals in connection with Khashoogi s murder and opened an investigation into the case.
Egypt has warned against the case being used to politically exploit Saudi Arabia and hailed the kingdom s "transparent investigation" into the case.
Gulf security
During Tuesday s meeting, El-Sisi said that Egypt s army will defend Gulf Arab countries against any direct threats.
“Our Arab peoples must remain aware and have real consciousness of what the region is going through,” Al-Ahram Arabic new website quoted El-Sisi as saying.
“We stand by our brothers in the Gulf wholeheartedly, and if Gulf security is directly threatened, Egypt will mobilise its forces to protect its brothers.”
In response to a question about US sanctions on Iran, El-Sisi said that “instability affects all of us," urging other countries to respect national Arab security, namely that of the Gulf.
