Muhammad Bin Salman appeared relaxed as he welcomed U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Riyadh. For the Saudi crown prince, hosting American-Russian talks is a valuable opportunity to enhance his geopolitical influence. The de facto ruler of the kingdom shares a close relationship with President Donald Trump. Trump played a decisive role in Bin Salman’s rise to crown prince: Just weeks after taking office in January 2017, Trump invited MBS—then still deputy crown prince—to a lengthy lunch at the White House. Muhammad Bin Salman also maintains a friendly relationship with Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Saudi Arabia’s financial power and the crown prince’s ambitious plans significantly contributed to Trump’s support for MBS. Bin Salman aims to fundamentally transform the kingdom’s economy to reduce its dependence on oil revenues. To achieve this, he is not only pushing for the opening of a society traditionally shaped by ultraconservative Islam but also investing billions of dollars—including in the United States.
However, the relationship has not been without disappointments. When Iran’s regional proxies attacked key Saudi oil facilities with drones and missiles in September 2019, Trump left his close Gulf ally in the lurch. This is one reason why the crown prince maintains a strong relationship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Saudi Arabia has diversified its strategic alliances, refraining from siding with Kyiv and the West in the Ukraine war and instead positioning itself as a mediator. Both Putin and MBS rule with an iron fist and eliminate opponents through force. MBS has already demonstrated his ruthless pragmatism on several occasions.
As defense minister in 2015, he launched a military campaign against the Houthi rebels in Yemen. In 2017, he took Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri hostage, led a blockade campaign against Qatar, and had hundreds of powerful and wealthy Saudis detained at the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh. When he had his critic Jamal Khashoggi murdered by a hit squad inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018, the crown prince found himself internationally ostracized. At the G20 summit in Argentina that same year, he was shunned by most leaders—except for Putin, who greeted him with a widely publicized warm handshake.
Today, however, the crown prince stands at the center of global politics as a host and mediator.
