Photo: Bandar Algaloud / Saudi Kingdom Council via Getty Images
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who's being courted by Washington elites and Hollywood moguls alike during a cross-country American trip, had a conversation with The Atlantic's editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg about the state of play in the Middle East and his vision for 2030. One key quote on Iran and its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei:
"I believe the Iranian supreme leader makes Hitler look good. Hitler didn’t do what the supreme leader is trying to do. Hitler tried to conquer Europe. … The supreme leader is trying to conquer the world."
More from MbS:
- "Our country doesn’t have a problem with Jews. ... You will find a lot of Jews in Saudi Arabia coming from America, coming from Europe. There are no problems between Christian and Muslims and Jews. We have problems like you would find anywhere in the world, among some people. But the normal sort of problems."
- "I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land. But we have to have a peace agreement to assure the stability for everyone and to have normal relations."
- "We would like to encourage freedom of speech as much as we can, so long as we don’t give opportunity to extremism. We can improve women’s rights, improve the economy. There is tension here, but we should do it."