Saudi Crown Prince Calls Iran leader 'New Hitler': Iran Has Not Apologised For Attack On The Saudis

Saudi Crown Prince Calls Iran leader 'New Hitler': Iran Has Not Apologised For Attack On The Saudis

25 November 2017

New York Times and The National

Saudi Arabia's powerful Crown Prince called the Supreme Leader of Iran "the new Hitler of the Middle East" in an interview with the New York Times published on Thursday, sharply escalating the war of words between the arch-rivals.

The Sunni Muslim kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Iran back rival sides in wars and political crises throughout the region.

Mohammed bin Salman, who is also Saudi defense minister in the U.S.-allied oil giant kingdom, suggested the Islamic Republic's alleged expansion under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei needed to be confronted.

"But we learned from Europe that appeasement doesn't work. We don't want the new Hitler in Iran to repeat what happened in Europe in the Middle East," the paper quoted him as saying.

Tensions soared this month when Lebanon's Saudi-allied Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned in a television broadcast from Riyadh, citing the influence of Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and risks to his life.

Hezbollah called the move an act of war engineered by Saudi authorities, an accusation they denied.

Hariri has since suspended his resignation.

Saudi Arabia has launched thousands of air strikes in a 2-1/2-year-old war in neighboring Yemen to defeat the Iranian-aligned Houthi movement that seized broad swaths of the country.

Salman told the Times that the war was going in its favor and that its allies controlled 85 percent of Yemen's territory.

The Houthis, however, still retain the main population centers despite the war effort by a Saudi-led military coalition which receives intelligence and refueling for its warplanes by the United States. Some 10,000 people have died in the conflict.

The group launched a ballistic missile toward Riyadh's main airport on Nov. 4, which Saudi Arabis decried as an act of war by Tehran.

Bin Salman said in May that the kingdom would make sure any future struggle between the two countries "is waged in Iran".

For his part, Khamenei has referred to the House of Saud as an "accursed tree", and Iranian officials have accused the kingdom of spreading terrorism.

Prince Turki: Iran has not apologised for attack on Saudi embassy

In a blistering critique of Iran's regional policy, Prince Turki Al Faisal told The National that its government is running on a "transnational sectarian ambition" and that the time is not conducive for Saudi-Iranian talks.

Saudi Arabia's former chief of general intelligence described the economic and social changes under way in his country as "transformational" and "on the right track".

He anticipated more progress in talks between Riyadh and Baghdad after Saudi Arabia strengthened economic and political links with a flurry of diplomacy this year.

On Iran, Prince Turki agreed with the Trump administration that parts of the nuclear deal should be renegotiated to guarantee its sustainability over the long term.

"When it comes to the nuclear deal, 15 years [duration of the deal signed in 2015] is a blink of an eye in a nation's history," Prince Turki said. "Countries in the region need assurances that things won't return to be threatening after that period with Iran's nuclear programme and enrichment levels."

Prince Turki served for more than 20 years as head of the country's intelligence agency, before standing down in 2001. He went on to serve as ambassador to the US before taking his current position as chairman of the King Faisal Centre for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh.

Regionally, Prince Turki, who spoke to The National during a visit to Washington this week, saw no room for Saudi-Iran negotiations in the current charged environment.

"We have seen no improvement in Iran's behaviour since the signing of the deal, their reach and recruiting of proxies has even gone beyond the Arab World, it's driving a transnational sectarian ambition deep into Afghanistan and Pakistan," he said.

Prince Turki recalled the torching of the Saudi embassy in Tehran in January 2016.

"It's been almost two years since the attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran and we haven't seen even an apology from Iran," he said. "There is no sign at all for engagement or new room for negotiations."

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