DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (news agencies) — Saudi Arabia’s crown prince wasn’t in the room for the first high-level talks between Russia and the United States over Moscow’s war on Ukraine on Tuesday, but Mohammed bin Salman still won the day for hosting the gathering that could be a game-changer in the bloody conflict.
The assertive 39-year-old heir to the throne in the oil-rich kingdom already has taken over Saudi Arabia as its de facto leader under his father, the 89-year-old King Salman. But the prince’s war in Yemen and the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which U.S. intelligence agencies believe came at his orders, tarnished his reputation internationally.
Crown Prince Mohammed now finds himself at the center of the Trump administration’s outreach to Russia, a country Saudi Arabia carefully maintained ties to during the war through the OPEC+ oil cartel.
The prince likely caught President Donald Trump’s attention when he announced plans for a $600 billion investment in the United States — prompting the U.S. leader’s musings about whether to make Saudi Arabia the location for his first foreign trip in this term.
And with Trump suggesting his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin — something Moscow hopes can bring it in from the cold of Western nations — will take place in Saudi Arabia, Prince Mohammed is likely to remain a top player.
As the summit opened, the state-run Saudi Press Agency announced that “upon directives from” the royal, talks between Russia and the U.S. are taking place in Riyadh as “part of the kingdom’s ongoing efforts to promote global security and peace” — firmly putting Prince Mohammed’s fingerprints on the proceedings.
The strategy still holds risks for Prince Mohammed, particularly as the shaky ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war that ravaged the Gaza Strip remains in question.
Trump’s repeated comments that he wants the U.S. to “own” Gaza have inflamed the Arab world. The Palestinians want Gaza and the West Bank for a future state, something backed by nearly all of the international community.
Also, Saudi state media in recent days have openly criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — something that was avoided while Prince Mohammed weighed a possible diplomatic recognition deal with Israel under the Biden administration.
The idea of an American ownership of Gaza — whatever that would mean exactly — has similarly angered Saudis who support the Palestinians. The Saudi Foreign Ministry, in a reaction to Trump’s initial remarks, said its “unwavering position is nonnegotiable and not subject to compromises.”
But the kingdom did not criticize Trump directly.
Then there’s Trump longstanding criticism of OPEC+, in which Saudi Arabia remains the top power. In January, Trump claimed the alliance’s price cuts would be able to “automatically stop the tragedy that’s taking place in Ukraine.”
“One way to stop it quickly is for OPEC to stop making so much money and to drop the price of oil, because they have it nice and high,” Trump said.
However, global oil prices are down from highs of over $120 a barrel in 2022 after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, to around $75 a barrel today. The lower prices threaten Prince Mohammed’s ambitious projects, including his vision of the futuristic city of Neom, priced at $500 billion.
During years in the cold after the Khashoggi killing, both Russia and China offered Saudi Arabia and Prince Mohammed the cachet of being respected by Moscow and Beijing, bypassing persistent human rights concerns of the West. Prince Mohammed has hosted and spoken by phone with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Putin.
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