Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in a U.S. television interview that his country was moving steadily closer to normalizing relations with Israel and also warned that if Iran gets a nuclear weapon, “we have to get one.”
“For us, the Palestinian issue is very important. We need to solve that part,” MbS, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, said when asked what it would take to get a normalization agreement. “And we have a good negotiation strategy til now.”
“We got to see where we go. We hope that will reach a place that will ease the life of the Palestinians and get Israel as a player in the Middle East,” he said, speaking in English.
MbS also voiced concern about the possibility that Iran, a mutual adversary of Saudi Arabia and Israel that the U.S. wants to contain, could obtain a nuclear weapon. Tehran has denied seeking a nuclear bomb.
“That’s a bad move,” he said. “If you use it, you got to have a big fight with the rest of the world.”
Asked what would happen if Iran did get a nuclear bomb, MbS said: “If they get one, we have to get one, for security reasons and the balance of power in the Middle East. But we don’t want to see that.”
Facing criticism from the U.S., MbS, whose country is the world’s top oil exporter, also defended OPEC+’s decision to cut oil output, saying it was based on market stability and not intended to help energy-dependent Russia in its war in Ukraine.
MbS, asked about Russia’s military campaign, said the invasion of another country was “really bad” but he appeared to stick to his position of not taking sides in the war.
Asked about Khashoggi’s killing, MbS said he was reforming the kingdom’s security system to make sure this kind of “mistake” does not happen again.
