NEW YORK – Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has brushed aside UnitedStates President Donald Trump’s warning that the oil-rich kingdom’sleadership might not last “two weeks” without American military support,saying that his country existed decades before the U.S.In an interview with Bloomberg, an American news service, he underscoredthat Riyadh “will pay nothing” to Washington for Saudi Arabia’s security,adding that “all the armaments we have from the United States of Americaare paid for, it’s not free armament.”At the same time, Prince Salman said of President Trump, “I love workingwith him. I really like working with him.”
Bloomberg said the interview took place at royal palace in Riyadh onWednesday. The news service circulated it on Friday.You know, you have to accept that any friend will say good things and badthings, when he was asked for his reaction to Trump’s harsh comments. “Youcannot have 100 percent friends saying good things about you, even in yourfamily. You will have some misunderstandings. So we put that in thatcategory,” he said.
Prince Salman’s interview came a day after Trump told a crowd of supportersat a rally in Southaven, Mississippi, that Saudi King Salman would not lastin power unless the US provided military support for the kingdom.
“We protect Saudi Arabia. Would you say they’re rich? And I love the King,King Salman. But I said, ‘King — we’re protecting you — you might not bethere for two weeks without us — you have to pay for your military’,” Trumpsaid.On Saturday, Trump said at a rally in West Virginia that although theSaudis have got trillions of dollars, we don’t get what we should begetting from them. He also stressed that with the support of WashingtonSaudi Arabia is totally safe, but without us, who knows what’s going tohappen.
Pressed on how he would regard Trump’s humiliating rhetoric against SaudiArabia, the crown prince described the controversial remarks as a “badissue” offset by “99 percent of good things.”
He added, “Saudi Arabia was there before the United States of America. It’sthere since 1744, I believe more than 30 years before the United States ofAmerica, And I believe, and I’m sorry if anyone misunderstands that, but Ibelieve President (Barack) Obama, in his eight years, he worked againstmany of our agenda – not (only) in Saudi Arabia, but also in the MiddleEast. And even though the US worked against our agenda we were able toprotect our interests. And the end result is that we succeeded, and theUnited States of America under the leadership of President Obama failed,for example in Egypt. So Saudi Arabia needs something like around 2,000years to maybe face some dangers.”“Actually, we will pay nothing for our security, the prince said,explaining that what Riyadh pays the US for is weapons purchases, whichhave increased since Trump’s election.
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Ever since the relationship started between Saudi Arabia and the UnitedStates of America, we’ve bought everything with money, he further said,adding that since Trump came to power, the kingdom decided to purchase over60 percent of its needed armament from the US for the next 10 years.
The 33-year-old crown prince went on to say that Saudi Arabia had agreed tobuy $110 billion worth of US weapons and signed investment deals worthbillions more, some $400 billion in total, since Trump took office in early2017, and described the deals as a good achievement” for Trump.
Also included in these agreements are that part of these armaments will bemanufactured in Saudi Arabia, so it will create jobs in America and SaudiArabia, good trade, good benefits for both countries and also good economicgrowth. Plus, it will help our security.” – APP
