US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has said the Trump administration is revoking the visas of some Saudi officials implicated in the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Mr Pompeo announced the step at a State Department news conference.

Mike Pompeo
Mike Pompeo (Cliff Owen/AP)

Vice President Mike Pence said earlier that Mr Khashoggi’s death at Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, “will not go without an American response”.

The visa revocations are the first punitive measures taken by the administration against the Saudis since Mr Khashoggi disappeared after entering the consulate on October 2.

Visa records are considered confidential and Mr Pompeo did not say which or how many Saudi officials would have their visas revoked.

Saudi authorities have detained 18 people in connection with Mr Khashoggi’s death, which officials say was accidental despite Turkish allegations that Mr Khashoggi was intentionally killed.