Saudi crown prince strikes conciliatory tone with Iran after secret talks to repair relations

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince struck a conciliatory tone towards the kingdom’s arch-nemesis Iran, saying he sought “good” relations, after sources said the rivals held secret talks in Baghdad. The two countries, locked in a fierce struggle for regional dominance, cut ties in 2016 after Iranian protesters attacked Saudi diplomatic missions following the kingdom’s execution of a revered Shiite cleric. “Iran is a neighbouring country, and all we aspire for is a good and special relationship with Iran,” Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in a television interview broadcast late Tuesday. “We do not want Iran’s situation to be difficult. On the contrary, we want Iran to grow … and to push the region and the world towards prosperity.” He added that Riyadh was working with regional and global partners to find solutions to Tehran’s “negative behaviour”. That marks a change in tone compared to Prince Mohammed’s previous interviews, in which he lashed out at Tehran, accusing it of fuelling regional insecurity. The prince did not mention any negotiations with Tehran. The talks in Baghdad, facilitated by Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi, remained secret until the Financial Times reported that a first meeting had been held on April 9. An Iraqi government official confirmed the talks Agence France-Presse, while a Western diplomat said he had been “briefed in advance” about the effort to “broker a better relationship and decrease tensions”. Saudi crown prince unveils car-free green city for future beyond oil Riyadh has officially denied the talks in its state-backed media while Tehran has stayed mum, asserting only that it has “always welcomed” dialogue with Saudi Arabia. The interview come as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to revive the tattered 2015 nuclear deal that was abandoned by Donald Trump. On relations with Washington, the prince said Saudi Arabia and Biden’s administration agreed on 90 per cent of issues of mutual concern, but were in disagreement on the rest, though he did not elaborate. Biden’s administration has made clear it was recalibrating the US relationship with Saudi Arabia following four years of warm times with Trump’s administration. Among Biden’s first decisions was ordering an end to US support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen. Saudi Arabia and Iran have backed opposite sides of several regional conflicts, from Syria to Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition is fighting the Houthi rebels. Campaigners frustrated over Biden’s decision not to sanction Saudi prince Iran supports the Houthi rebels, who are battling the Saudi-led military coalition that intervened in Yemen’s war in 2015. The rebels have also stepped up drone and missile strikes on Saudi targets, including its oil facilities. In his interview, Prince Mohammed renewed calls for a ceasefire and negotiations with the rebels. The bulk of Prince Mohammed’s interview, though, was spent laying out a dizzying array of economic figures and milestones to explain why the Saudi government has raised taxes, cut subsidies and embarked on unpopular austerity measures to hit targets in the so-called Vision 2030 plan. He said the kingdom was in talks to sell a 1 per cent stake of the state-owned oil giant Aramco to a leading global energy company. In 2019, the kingdom listed 5 per cent of Aramco on the Saudi stock exchange in an effort to raise money for its sovereign wealth fund. The interview was timed to mark five years since the launch of Vision 2030, Prince Mohammed’s blueprint for transforming the kingdom from an oil-dependent, insular nation to an economic powerhouse that is open to the world. In his unveiling of the project in 2016, he acknowledged Saudi Arabia had an “addiction to oil”. Ex-Saudi official says crown prince sent hit squad to kill him One of the most important goals of Prince Mohammed as he prepares to one day inherit the throne from his 82-year-old father, King Salman, is to create millions of jobs for young Saudis entering the workforce. He aims to lower unemployment to 7 per cent by 2030. The kingdom’s unemployment shot to a high of 15.9 per cent in mid-2020 before going back down to around 12 per cent. Although the prince’s international reputation remains damaged by the 2018 killing of Saudi columnist Jamal Khashoggi inside the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul, he is popular among many Saudis for his bold social reforms. With backing by his father, the prince has lifted the ban on women driving, curbed restrictive male guardianship laws, opened the country to cinemas and concerts, and issued directives that have dramatically dropped the kingdom’s rate of executions. Agence France-Presse and Associated Press

Saudi crown prince strikes conciliatory tone with Iran after secret talks to repair relations

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman says Saudi Arabia wants ‘good relations with Iran’ Comments more measured than previous years when Donald Trump was US president

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman says Saudi Arabia wants ‘good relations with Iran’

Comments more measured than previous years when Donald Trump was US president