Behind Saudi prince’s U.S. visit: Reports of royal health crises back home

Saudi Arabia may havae [sic] sent its 30-year-old deputy crown prince to visit the United States due to the deteriorating health of King Salman and amid rumors that Prince Mohammed bin Nayef is ailing as well.

Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with U.S. President Barack Obama on June 24 to “reaffirm the strategic partnership between Riyadh and Washington,” Bruce Riedel, a former national intelligence officer, told NBC News.

Coming Soon: Gulf War III?

Concerning the contretemps between Saudi Arabia and Iran, a few observations:

• David Goldman thinks Saudi Arabia’s execution of the Shite cleric Nimr al-Nimr and others is a sign of panic among Saudi leadership, and perhaps this is correct. On the other hand, the sacking of the Saudi embassy in Tehran can’t have taken place without the connivance or tacit approval of the Iranian regime (sounds familiar, doesn’t it?), who probably welcomed the provocation of Nimr al-Nimr’s execution.

Saudi Arabia says it won’t rule out building nuclear weapons

This could end up turning into a scenario where, like Japan, Saudi Arabia develops breakout capacity in order to go nuclear in as little as three months if needed. Now that the Obama administration’s reckless policies have started a nuclear arms race in the Middle East, things are going to get extremely dangerous for Israel. With its back against the wall it may have no choice but to strike or even use the Samson Option should it be attacked.

 

 

Saudi Arabia will not rule out building or acquiring nuclear weapons, the country’s ambassador to the United States has indicated.

Asked whether Saudi Arabia would ever build nuclear weapons in an interview with US news channel CNN, Adel Al-Jubeir said the subject was “not something we would discuss publicly”.

Pressed later on the subject he said: “This is not something that I can comment on, nor would I comment on.”