The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman. (Image via New York Post)

'60 Minutes' with Saudi Prince: From oil price to Khashoggi

On Sunday, an interview between CBS with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, generally known by his abbreviation “MBS”, was broadcast in CBS program, “60 Minutes”. In the interview, the Prince spoke about various things ranging from the oil price to his thoughts about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

In the interview, MBS was asked about his involvement in ordering the murder of Arabian author and columnist for The Washington Post, Jamal Khashoggi. Bin Salman denied the rumor that he ordered the “heinous” crime – as what he described the incident as – and instead, as the de facto ruler of the Kingdom, he had no choice but to bear the responsibility.

MBS and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were accused of ordering murder against Jamal Khashoggi for his sharp criticism toward them, and the criticism against Saudi intervention in Yemen. On 2 October 2018, Khashoggi was assassinated at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Two weeks of investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) stated that MBS was the mastermind behind the murder.

Besides Khashoggi, MBS also stated a warning for the world about the astronomical rise of oil prices amid the tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

MBS referred to Iran as the culprit behind the drone attack on Saudi Aramco on 14 September and called the world to take “strong and firm” action, “or else”. This “or else” could be the rise of oil price to “unimaginably high level” that hurts the world’s interest.

MBS joined the United States (U.S), Germany, the United Kingdom (U.K), and France in blaming Tehran for the drone attack. Although the Yemen-led Houthi rebels group was the one claiming the attack, the world still blamed Iran. U.S Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, stated that the U.S got enough evidence from the satellite images that Iran was behind the attack.

Did “strong and firm” action mean war? “No”, said MBS. Instead of military action, MBS preferred political action, afraid that war between Iran and Saudi Arabia would lead to the collapse of the global economy. What is certain was that the attack crippled global oil reserves by 2%.

Source: https://bit.ly/2otPC9D