Saudi prince set to talk Iran, Yemen with Trump
COURTING HIS ALLY Mohammed bin Salman is also likely to discuss his plans to transform kingdom’s economy
RIYADH: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman left for the US on Monday for talks with President Donald Trump and business leaders in his first visit as heir apparent to Riyadh’s closest Western ally.
Mutual rival Iran will be high on the agenda, but the 32-year-old strongman prince will also be looking to showcase his sweeping changes to Saudi society and an increasingly assertive foreign policy that includes the war in Yemen and an ongoing diplomatic feud with Qatar.
State news agency SPA said Prince Mohammed, 32, who has embarked on reforms to modernise deeply conservative Saudi Arabia, would discuss “bilateral relations and matters of common interest”, without elaborating.
He will meet Trump on Tuesday at the White House, press secretary Sarah Sanders said last week. The prince is also expected to visit New York, Boston, Houston and San Francisco for meetings with business and industry leaders.
Prince Mohammed has won Western plaudits for seeking to ease Saudi Arabia’s reliance on oil, tackle chronic corruption and transform the kingdom.
But the severity and secrecy of an anti-corruption crackdown last November, after he was named heir to the throne, has unnerved some investors.
The crown prince is also likely to reiterate to Washington the view of Saudi Arabia that its regional arch-rival, Iran, should not be trusted given its nuclear programme.
‘NOT GANDHI OR MANDELA’
The prince has been accused of hypocrisy over his opulent lifestyle at a time his government is preaching greater austerity of its citizens and has imposed new taxes. But he insisted his wealth was a private matter. “As far as my private expenses, I’m a rich person and not a poor person. I’m not Gandhi or Mandela.”
He added: “But what I do as a person is to spend part of my personal income on charity. ”