A Suggested GCC Question For Saudi Arabia’s MBS: ‘What Did You Think You Were Doing?’ – OpEd |
It’s looking increasingly like Donald Trump had two voices in his ear when he was persuaded to launch American airpower against the Iranian regime, not just that of Israel’s Binjamin Netanyahu but that too of Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman—and that MBS has been playing an adventurous but ultimately reckless game that has exposed his Gulf neighbours to massive risk.
It seems that the Saudi Crown Prince not only welcomed but actively helped to shape this conflict—despite Riyadh’s recent Chinese‑brokered rapprochement with Tehran. This appearance of a Saudi “double game” is becoming central to how analysts explain both the timing of US escalation and the relatively calibrated nature of Iran’s retaliation against Saudi territory in the war’s early stages.
The Washington Post reported on Day 1 of the conflict that Trump’s order for “sweeping attacks on Iran” came “after weeks of lobbying by two key US allies in the Middle East—Israel and Saudi Arabia,” noting that “Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman made multiple private calls to........