Saudi intelligence source confirms reporting that crown prince has urged Trump to ramp up ‘historic opportunity’ to remake Middle East – key US politics stories from Friday 27 March at a glance
Saudi Arabia has urged the US to ramp up attacks on Iran, a Saudi intelligence source has confirmed, as it decides whether to join the fight directly.
The Saudi source confirmed reporting in the New York Times that said the kingdom’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has urged Donald Trump not to cut short his war against Iran, and that the US-Israeli campaign represented a “historic opportunity” to remake the Middle East.
The intelligence source said Riyadh was not just calling for the military campaign to be continued, but to be intensified. Trump appeared to confirm the report about the crown prince’s role, telling journalists on Tuesday: “Yeah, he’s a warrior. He’s fighting with us.”
Saudi Arabia and Iran, claiming leadership roles of the Sunni and Shia Islamic worlds respectively, have long been regional rivals. According to a leaked US state department cable, the crown prince’s paternal uncle King Abdullah urged the US military in 2008 to “cut off the head of the snake”, a reference to the theocratic regime in Tehran.
Saudi Arabia wants the US to keep their oil prices high to pad their coffers.
SA’s lifting cost for oil is somewhere around $3/bbl but all their other government spending and development programs brings their actual budgetary breakeven cost closer to like $90/bbl. The past year they’ve spent south of $70/bbl has been bleeding money.