Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's interview with Fox News generated lots of big news, but it was his remarks beyond the headlines that could perhaps have a more lasting impact on US viewers.
For decades, Americans' perceptions of Saudi Arabia have been defined through a narrow prism that has highlighted a small set of issues: arms sales, oil prices, human rights concerns and – more recently – the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
In his 36-minute interview, Prince Mohammed spoke in English to address all of these matters, while at the same time stressing that Saudi Arabia is focused on the future, that he wants American tourists to come to visit and that Riyadh is keen to keep the US as its key security partner.
“The Crown Prince achieved what he wanted to achieve in addressing an American and western audience more broadly, [in terms of getting] Saudi Arabia to be viewed as a growing, evolving, modern state,” said Jonathan Panikoff, director of the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Counci.
“He did a good job of trying to show a changing and developing Saudi Arabia.”
Fox News, a conservative outlet, often tops nightly viewership rankings in the US, and the Crown Prince's comments on getting “closer” to a deal to establish relations with Israel were flashed around the globe.
For millions of Americans, it was their first time seeing him speak in English and answer questions from a US journalist. Fox said it was the first time Prince Mohammed had ever done a media interview completely in English.
Bernard Haykel, professor of Near Eastern studies at Princeton University, said it was noteworthy that Prince Mohammed had admitted to making “mistakes”, particularly around the Khashoggi killing.
The Crown Prince also said that it was “shamedly” true that Saudi courts had sentenced a man to death over his posts on X, formerly Twitter, and his activity on YouTube. He said it was time to change “bad laws” on such issues and added that he hoped a higher court judge would look at the conviction in a “totally different” way.
When asked about Khashoggi's killing, he said those responsible were in prison and Saudi Arabia has reformed the security system to “be sure that these kind of mistakes” do not happen again.
“That's something I thought ought to be noted,” Mr Haykel said. “There's something kind of quite distinctive about him in that regard. He kind of admits that there are lots of things that are wrong and that we're fixing them.”
Khashoggi was killed on October 2, 2018, after he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Riyadh said the murder was an unsanctioned operation by security officials and the kingdom has since reformed the leadership of its top intelligence agencies in an attempt to prevent such an incident from happening again.
The Crown Prince's interview, in which he also said Saudi Arabia would seek to get a nuclear bomb if Iran did, shows how far his relations with US President Joe Biden have improved over the past year or so.
The awkward fist bump during a visit to Saudi Arabia in 2022 was switched for a warm handshake at the G20 in India, and Prince Mohammed praised the mental acuity of the 80-year-old Mr Biden – a subject of constant speculation in the US.
“I don't think that there's necessarily a huge amount of love between the two, but they've got to a place that's far different than 14 months ago. It's not just a working relationship, but an amicable, warm enough relationship to be able to actually be able to progress on a lot of issues,” Mr Panikoff said.
On the key issue of security, the Crown Prince pointed out that the kingdom was the top purchaser of US weapons and suggested that, while Saudi Arabia has other countries it could buy arms from, he wanted to keep US defence relationship going.
“You don't want to see Saudi Arabia shifting their armament from America to other places,” he said. “It will save effort and headache from the Saudi side of not switching to other places.”
The Crown Prince “is clearly sending a signal that America is the top strategic ally and he wants to have a very good relationship the United States”, Mr Haykel said.
“Then if that doesn't work out, then he would turn to other arms suppliers, which is not his preference.”
Another takeaway, Mr Haykel said, was that the interview showed Prince Mohammed to be a practical “nationalist”.
“He doesn't really care how outsiders think about him, as long as his own people and his own economy are flourishing,” the expert said.
During the interview, Prince Mohammed said he hoped that between 100 million and 150 million people would visit the kingdom by 2030. He was asked about critics who have accused Saudi Arabia of investing heavily in golf and other sports in attempted “sportswashing”, or spending to improve the kingdom's political image abroad.
Prince Mohammed said he was not concerned by such claims and if sports investments continue to increase Saudi Arabia's gross domestic product significantly, then his country would “continue to do sportswashing”.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company profile
Name: Fruitful Day
Founders: Marie-Christine Luijckx, Lyla Dalal AlRawi, Lindsey Fournie
Based: Dubai, UAE
Founded: 2015
Number of employees: 30
Sector: F&B
Funding so far: Dh3 million
Future funding plans: None at present
Future markets: Saudi Arabia, potentially Kuwait and other GCC countries
Company name: Farmin
Date started: March 2019
Founder: Dr Ali Al Hammadi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: AgriTech
Initial investment: None to date
Partners/Incubators: UAE Space Agency/Krypto Labs
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
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Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)
Salama bint Butti Street
Al Dhafra Street
Rabdan Street
Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
HIV on the rise in the region
A 2019 United Nations special analysis on Aids reveals 37 per cent of new HIV infections in the Mena region are from people injecting drugs.
New HIV infections have also risen by 29 per cent in western Europe and Asia, and by 7 per cent in Latin America, but declined elsewhere.
Egypt has shown the highest increase in recorded cases of HIV since 2010, up by 196 per cent.
Access to HIV testing, treatment and care in the region is well below the global average.
Few statistics have been published on the number of cases in the UAE, although a UNAIDS report said 1.5 per cent of the prison population has the virus.
What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
- An arms embargo
- A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
- A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
- A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
- Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
HIJRA
Starring: Lamar Faden, Khairiah Nathmy, Nawaf Al-Dhufairy
Director: Shahad Ameen
Rating: 3/5
Ways to control drones
Countries have been coming up with ways to restrict and monitor the use of non-commercial drones to keep them from trespassing on controlled areas such as airports.
"Drones vary in size and some can be as big as a small city car - so imagine the impact of one hitting an airplane. It's a huge risk, especially when commercial airliners are not designed to make or take sudden evasive manoeuvres like drones can" says Saj Ahmed, chief analyst at London-based StrategicAero Research.
New measures have now been taken to monitor drone activity, Geo-fencing technology is one.
It's a method designed to prevent drones from drifting into banned areas. The technology uses GPS location signals to stop its machines flying close to airports and other restricted zones.
The European commission has recently announced a blueprint to make drone use in low-level airspace safe, secure and environmentally friendly. This process is called “U-Space” – it covers altitudes of up to 150 metres. It is also noteworthy that that UK Civil Aviation Authority recommends drones to be flown at no higher than 400ft. “U-Space” technology will be governed by a system similar to air traffic control management, which will be automated using tools like geo-fencing.
The UAE has drawn serious measures to ensure users register their devices under strict new laws. Authorities have urged that users must obtain approval in advance before flying the drones, non registered drone use in Dubai will result in a fine of up to twenty thousand dirhams under a new resolution approved by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai.
Mr Ahmad suggest that "Hefty fines running into hundreds of thousands of dollars need to compensate for the cost of airport disruption and flight diversions to lengthy jail spells, confiscation of travel rights and use of drones for a lengthy period" must be enforced in order to reduce airport intrusion.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
