The crown prince is considered Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler. [Source: BBC]

A US intelligence report has found that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the murder of exiled journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

The declassified report released by the Biden administration says the prince approved a plan to either “capture or kill” the US-based Saudi exile.

It is the first time America has publicly named the crown prince, who denies ordering the murder.

Khashoggi was killed while visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

The 59-year-old journalist had once been an adviser to the Saudi government and close to the royal family – but he fell out of favour and went into self-imposed exile in the US in 2017.