Washington Post: Saudi Crown Prince bin Salman urged Trump to attack Iran

International Desk

There has been a strong international reaction to claims that several top leaders and military commanders, including the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, were killed in a joint US-Israeli attack on Iran.

In this context, the US media outlet Washington Post reported in a report that Saudi Arabia may have an indirect role behind this attack.

The report, published on Sunday, March 1, cited multiple US and regional sources as saying that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke with US President Donald Trump on the phone several times last month. While publicly favoring a diplomatic solution, in private discussions he advocated tougher action against Iran, the report said.

The report also said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly advocated military action against Iran and has maintained a strong position on the issue.

However, Saudi Arabia’s role was relatively complex—on the one hand, they officially stated that Saudi territory would not be allowed to be used in any attack against Iran; on the other hand, private diplomatic communications highlighted the need for swift action.

The Saudis feared that delay could lead to Iran becoming stronger, and at the same time, they were also considering strategically protecting their oil infrastructure from possible retaliatory attacks, the report said.

Meanwhile, President Trump said in an interview with Axios on Saturday that there were two reasons behind the launch of ‘Operation Epic Fury’ – the collapse of US-Iran nuclear talks in Geneva and intelligence that Iran was rebuilding nuclear facilities damaged in the Israeli-Iranian conflict.

He said, “Iran was getting very close to the deal and then repeatedly backing away, making it seem like they didn’t really want any compromise.”

Trump said he was also asked to prepare a list of Iran-related attacks around the world over the past 25 years before announcing the operation. He claimed that Iran was regularly involved in various violent acts.

Following the attack, Iran reportedly retaliated with strikes on Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, Doha in Qatar, and Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, raising fears of a new major conflict in the Middle East.

In response, Riyadh issued a statement condemning these attacks and calling on the international community to take necessary and strong measures against Iran.

Analysts believe that the strained relations between long-time rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia have made this new situation more complicated.