Saudi crown prince ‘has kept his mother hidden from king for two years’
CROWN Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s powerful heir to the throne, has reportedly kept his own mother away from his father, the king, out of fear she would stand in the way of his rapid rise to power.
The reports came as he warned that Saudi Arabia would develop its own nuclear weapons if Iran was allowed to build a nuclear bomb.
The prince has prevented Princess Fahda bint Falah Al Hathleen, his mother, from seeing King Salman for more than two years. At one point, she may even have been held under house arrest at a royal palace, NBC News reported, citing 14 current and former US intelligence officials. Saudi Arabia’s government strongly denied the claim.
Little is known about Princess Fahda, the king’s third wife, and like most Saudi royal women she is not seen in public.
According to NBC, the crown prince provided his father with several reasons why he could not see his wife.
On a visit to the White House in 2015, the elderly 82-year-old king apparently mistakenly told Barack Obama, then the president, that his wife was receiving medical treatment in New York, contrary to US intelligence that she was not in the country. A spokesman for the Saudi embassy in Washington said the claim was “absolutely not true”.
Sources said that Princess Fahda fears Prince Mohammed’s power grab is dividing the Saudi royal family.
Prince Mohammed’s alleged move to put her under house arrest is considered an attempt to prevent her gaining the ear of King Salman. Ahead of his first official visit to Washington as crown prince, Prince Mohammed warned that Saudi Arabia would develop its own nuclear weapons if Iran was allowed to build a nuclear bomb.
“Saudi Arabia does not want to acquire any nuclear bomb but without a doubt, if Iran developed a nuclear bomb we would follow suit as soon as possible,” the 32-year-old prince told CBS. He repeated his accusation that Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, was “the new Hitler” in the Middle East.
Fears of a nuclear arms race between Iran and Saudi Arabia are growing once again as the Iran nuclear deal comes under increasing pressure and after Riyadh announced it was pursuing a civilian nuclear energy programme.
Donald Trump has threatened to pull the US out of the 2015 nuclear accord unless it is significantly tightened and expanded to cover areas which were not in the original agreement. Mike Pompeo, Mr Trump’s choice to be the new US secretary of state, also takes a hawkish stance on Iran and is far less conciliatory than Rex Tillerson, his predecessor.
Iran warned it would resume enriching uranium if the US pulled out of the deal and reimposed severe sanctions.
Saudi Arabia announced this week that it is seeking to develop a nuclear energy programme of its own. It said that it would be “restricted to peaceful purposes” but analysts fear that the programme could be converted to making weapons if a nuclear arms race with Iran broke out.
Meanwhile, France has reportedly issued an arrest warrant for Princess Hassa, Prince Mohammed’s sister, for allegedly ordering a bodyguard to attack a workman who attempted to take photographs inside her Paris apartment, according to Le Point magazine.
The princess has denied any wrongdoing.