Only death can snatch away Saudi crown from me: Mohammed bin Salman

Washington: Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman claimed that only death can snatch away Saudi crown from him. He told this in an interview to US news channel CBS News. The young prince who is heir to the throne after his father King Salman dies, said God only knows how long will I live but if I remain alive and the situation allows, I will rule the kingdom for the next half-century or more. Asked what could stop him, he replied: “Only death.”

Regarding Iran he said, there is no comparison between Saudi Arabia and Iran, Iran is neither among big military forces nor equal to Saudi Arabia in the economy.

He alleged that Osama bin Laden made 9/11 attack with along with 15 Saudi citizens. His aim was to strain relations between the Middle East and west, US and Saudi Arabia.

Prince Mohammed Salman said “This is not the real Saudi Arabia. I would ask your viewers to use their smartphones to find out. And they can google Saudi Arabia in the 70s and 60s, and they will see the real Saudi Arabia easily in the pictures.”

“We were living a very normal life like the rest of the Gulf countries. Women were driving cars. There were movie theatres in Saudi Arabia. Women worked everywhere. We were just normal people developing like any other country in the world until the events of 1979 (the seizure by extremists of the Grand Mosque in Makkah), he added”

But now we are giving rights to women, it has been made easy for them to do business, enter into the military, going to music concerts and sports competition etc.

In reply to a question, he said “We have extremists who forbid mixing between the two sexes and are unable to differentiate between a man and a woman alone together and their being together in a workplace. Many of those ideas contradict the way of life during the time of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH),” he said. “We are all human beings and there is no difference.”

Prince Mohammed embraced a Saudi woman’s right to wear “what type of decent and respectful attire she chooses to wear”. He said: “The laws are very clear and stipulated in the laws of Sharia: that women wear decent, respectful clothing, like men. This, however, does not particularly specify a black abaya or a black head cover.”