‘WE ARE SEEKING GOOD RELATIONS WITH IRAN, IF IT STOPS SUPPORTING MILITIAS’
▶ Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman talks regional ties, strong US links and vision for future in rare TV interview
Saudi Arabia wants regional stability and is not opposed to talks with Iran, provided Tehran stops sponsoring regional militias, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said.
He also said Iran’s continued nuclear programme was a serious source of contention.
Riyadh is maintaining strong ties with the US, Prince Mohammed said in a wide-ranging interview with the Liwan Al Mudaifer Show on Tuesday night, which was broadcast on state TV.
Prince Mohammed, who rarely gives television interviews, described in detail aspects of the country’s ambitious Vision 2030 programme of reforms.
He said the success of the programme was partly based on having pragmatic foreign relations.
“It is based on our interests,” Prince Mohammed said. “The majority of investments have come through the fact that our interests have aligned with the international community.”
He said reports of Washington turning its back on Saudi Arabia were exaggerated.
“Relations between states are not 100 per cent on the same page,” Prince Mohammed said.
“Our interests align with the Biden administration by more than 90 per cent.
“There is no doubt that there are differences in views between Saudi Arabia and even other Gulf states, but within a single family views differ and that’s normal.”
He stressed the historic relationship between the two countries.
“The US is a strategic and historic partner to the kingdom,” Prince Mohammed said. “This relationship has had a profound impact on both states.
“With every new American administration, differences appear and that is normal.
“We are working on strengthening our ties and alliances with our international partners.”
He said that the kingdom was not interested in perpetual hostility with Iran, but any thawing of relations would be conditional.
“Iran is a neighbouring state,” Prince Mohammed said. “We are seeking to have good relations with Iran.
“We have interests in Iran, we aim to see a prosperous Iran.
“We are working with our partners in the region to overcome our differences with Iran, especially with its support for militias and the development of its nuclear programme.”
This month, government and diplomatic sources in Baghdad said Saudi and Iranian government officials held back-channel talks, below Cabinet level, in Baghdad.
Iran and Saudi Arabia denied that the talks took place.
Any momentum is likely to be complicated by Iran’s continued sponsorship of proxy militia groups in the region, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq.
Kataib Hezbollah said it would resist efforts by Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi to build ties with Riyadh.
At the beginning of the month, Mr Al Kadhimi visited Riyadh and discussed co-operation in investment with the kingdom, including the establishment of a $3bn infrastructure investment fund.
The conflict in Yemen is also a sticking point in any rapprochement with Iran.
“We will not allow any armed militias on our borders,” Prince Mohammed said. “The Houthis must come to the negotiating table.
“The Houthis have strong relations with Iran, but at the end of the day they are Yemenis and we are hoping to have a Yemeni solution to end the conflict.
“The Houthis’ coup against the internationally recognised government is illegal and Saudi Arabia will not accept any armed militias on its borders.
“There is no country in the world that would accept the presence of armed militias on its borders, such as the Houthis.
“The Houthis must accept the Saudi ceasefire initiative and participate in talks. We hope that they will reach a solution that guarantees rights for all.”
The Crown Prince said reports of Washington turning its back on Saudi Arabia were exaggerated, and that differences in opinion were normal
In an interview on Tuesday, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said his country is not opposed to talks with Tehran to discuss ways the two regional powers could co-operate in the interests of peace. The decades-old rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran has been exacerbated in recent years by the proliferation of Iranian-backed militant groups across the Middle East, including on Saudi Arabia’s own border, in Yemen. These groups are the primary roadblock to progress in bilateral relations.
It will be difficult for Iran to give them up. On Tuesday Gen Kenneth McKenzie, head of the US military’s Central Command, described a nuclear deal signed between western powers and Iran in 2015 as a “flawed document” but better than nothing, encouraging a collective response to the threat posed by Tehran. It was, unfortunately, not fully inclusive. Without Arab support, the deal’s collaborative intentions were never realised. The Biden administration could make the same mistake in its desire to return to a similar arrangement as soon as possible.
In 2015, the most obvious threat to global security was Iran’s nuclear programme. Six years later, it is much more. Tehran’s expansionism, proxies, militia networks, ballistic missile programme and asymmetric warfare flourished because the deal focused solely on the nuclear issue. Permanent members of the UN Security Council must acknowledge this new and dangerous reality. If current talks with Iran in Vienna are to make the world safer, leaders must demand that Tehran closes its Pandora’s box.
Iran will be unwilling to give up these strategic wins. They are, however, built on shaky ground. Tehran’s network of militias has been weakened by the power vacuum that followed America’s killing of senior IRGC commander Qassem Suleimani last year. The absence of his emblematic presence has loosened a once infamously well organised command structure. Gen McKenzie’s statement on Tuesday even suggested that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is not entirely in control of the IRGC. Recent audio leaks of Foreign Minister Javad Zarif cause further confusion.
This is not something to be celebrated. Yesterday the US Navy released footage of what it claimed to be IRGC boats harassing its ships in the Gulf. This strategic disintegration could lead to Iranian forces overstepping the mark. But a security breakdown also leaves Tehran vulnerable. The assassination of a leading atomic scientist and a separate explosion at its Natanz facility have rocked the country’s nuclear programme, key leverage that it has over regional nations.
Crown Prince Mohammed’s latest interview summarised the many ways Saudi Arabia is changing at home and abroad, with a clear strategic vision. Riyadh wants detente with Tehran, but only if it is built on a genuine effort to curtail its militant and aggressive activities. Iranian leaders, wherever power truly lies, must realise the limits of a diplomatic model built on aggression. Until then, peace is difficult to attain, even with all the goodwill in the world.