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Saudi Arabia’s Defense Minister Says Dialogue With Iran Is Impossible Dialogue With Iran Is Impossible, Saudi Arabia’s Defense Minister Says
(about 5 hours later)
Saudi Arabia accused Iran on Tuesday of coveting control of the Muslim world and said dialogue with its Middle Eastern rival was impossible. BEIRUT, Lebanon — Saudi Arabia’s powerful deputy crown prince slammed the door Tuesday on the prospect of dialogue with Iran, the kingdom’s regional rival, accusing it of following an “extremist ideology” and seeking to take over the Muslim world.
The Saudi criticism, made in a television interview by its defense minister, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was unusually blunt and suggested that the strained relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran may worsen, increasing instability in the region. The prince, Mohammed bin Salman, 31, who is second in line to the throne and serves as defense minister, said Saudi Arabia would fight what he called Iran’s efforts to extend its influence.
Saudi Arabia, predominantly Sunni Muslim, and Iran, predominantly Shiite, support opposite sides in the wars in Syria and Yemen and a simmering conflict in Bahrain. “We are a primary target for the Iranian regime,” Prince Mohammed said, accusing Iran of seeking to take over Islamic holy sites in Saudi Arabia. “We won’t wait for the battle to be in Saudi Arabia. Instead, we’ll work so that the battle is for them in Iran.”
The Saudis are strong allies of the United States. They have been heartened by the Trump administration’s confrontational stance toward the Iranians compared with that of President Barack Obama’s. The two countries, which stand on opposite sides of the conflicts in Syria and Yemen, are competing for religious and political influence across the Middle East. Saudi Arabia, ruled by a Sunni royal family, is a close ally of the United States and accuses Iran of spreading its revolutionary ideology to destabilize the Arab world. Saudi leaders have taken heart from the Trump administration’s criticism of Iran.
Saudi-Iranian relations hit a low in 2016 when the Saudis severed diplomatic relations with Iran after the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was stormed by Iranian rioters, outraged over the Saudi execution of an outspoken Shiite cleric. For its part, Shiite-led Iran says Saudi Arabia’s ultraconservative religious creed, known abroad as Wahhabism, endangers minorities and feeds terrorism. Iranian officials did not immediately respond to Prince Mohammed’s statements.
Signs of a Saudi-Iranian thaw emerged a few months ago when the Saudis said Iranians would be able to participate in this year’s hajj, the pilgrimage to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. No Iranians attended the 2016 hajj, partly because of tensions over a human crush at the 2015 hajj that left more than 2,400 dead, including nearly 500 Iranians. The prince said that dialogue with Iran was impossible because of its belief in the Imam Mahdi, the so-called hidden imam, who many Shiites believe is a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad who will return to save the world from destruction.
But the Saudi prince appeared to douse any prospect of further improvement in the interview with the Saudi-owned MBC television. Excerpts were distributed to Western and Arab news agencies before the broadcast of the full interview Tuesday night. “Their stance is that the awaited Mahdi will come, and they need to create a fertile environment for the arrival of the awaited Mahdi, and they need to take over the Islamic world,” he said. “Where are the common points that we might be able to reach an understanding on with this regime?”
Asked if a direct dialogue is envisioned with Iran, the prince said that would be impossible because of what he described as the Iranian religious conviction that Shiites were destined to take over the Islamic world. Prince Mohammed gave a positive view of the war in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia and a coalition of Arab countries have been bombing for more than two years to try to push Shiite rebels aligned with Iran out of the capital.
“How do you have a dialogue with this?” the prince said. He said that Saudi forces could uproot the rebels “in a few days,” but that doing so would kill thousands of Saudi troops and many civilians. So, he said, the coalition is waiting for the rebels to tire out.
He was referring to the Shiite belief in Imam Mahdi, the so-called Hidden Imam, said to be a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad who will return to save the world from destruction. Aid organizations have been sounding the alarm about an escalating humanitarian crisis and the threat of famine in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country, exacerbated by a Saudi-led blockade of rebel-held territory and airstrikes on a key seaport.
The prince said Iranians believe that “the Imam Mahdi will come and they must prepare the fertile environment for the arrival of the awaited Mahdi and they must control the Muslim world.” Prince Mohammed said Saudi Arabia was in no hurry.
Roughly a quarter of the global population of 7.5 billion is Muslim, the vast majority Sunni. “Time is in our favor,” he said.
There was no immediate response to the prince’s remarks from Iran. Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, said recently that his country has no fight to pick with Saudi Arabia, but he accused the Saudis of “fueling tensions in the region through their policies and stances.” The prince spoke during an extended interview that was broadcast simultaneously on a number of Saudi-owned satellite networks and heavily promoted in advance. It was his second television interview since his father, King Salman, assumed the throne in 2015.
The king has vested enormous power in his son, who runs the Defense Ministry, oversees the state oil company, and is spearheading a program known as Vision 2030 to reduce the kingdom’s dependence on oil and improve the quality of life for Saudi citizens.
Much of the interview was aimed at a domestic audience, with Prince Mohammed assuring Saudis that the government was working hard to fight corruption and improve the economy, which has been hurt by low oil prices.
The prince’s high public profile has caused many in the kingdom to speculate that he wants to succeed his father on the throne, displacing Mohammed bin Nayef, the current crown prince.
During the nearly hourlong interview, he did not mention the crown prince once.