Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi (Photo: EPA/VNA)

The sanctions target Ahmad Hassan Mohammed al Asiri, Saudi Arabia’s former deputy head of the General Intelligence Presidency and Saudi Arabia’s Rapid Intervention Force (RIF) and several other members. The Treasury Department said al Asiri was the “ringleader” of the assassination and coordinated the killing with RIF members.

Friday’s sanctions freeze any assets in the U.S. owned by those on the sanction list and bar anyone in the US from doing business with them. Earlier the same day, the US banned 76 people from Saudi Arabia, according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was killed when he visited the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, to pick up paperwork required for his planned marriage.