Dialogue With Iran Is Impossible, Saudi Arabia’s Defense Minister Says

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BEIRUT, Lebanon — Saudi Arabia’s powerful deputy crown prince slammed the door Tuesday on the prospect of dialogue with Iran, the kingdom’s regional rival, accusing it of following an “extremist ideology” and seeking to take over the Muslim world.

The prince, Mohammed bin Salman, 31, who is second in line to the throne and serves as defense minister, said Saudi Arabia would fight what he called Iran’s efforts to extend its influence.

“We are a primary target for the Iranian regime,” Prince Mohammed said, accusing Iran of seeking to take over Islamic holy sites in Saudi Arabia. “We won’t wait for the battle to be in Saudi Arabia. Instead, we’ll work so that the battle is for them in Iran.”

The two countries, which stand on opposite sides of the conflicts in Syria and Yemen, are competing for religious and political influence across the Middle East. Saudi Arabia, ruled by a Sunni royal family, is a close ally of the United States and accuses Iran of spreading its revolutionary ideology to destabilize the Arab world. Saudi leaders have taken heart from the Trump administration’s criticism of Iran.

For its part, Shiite-led Iran says Saudi Arabia’s ultraconservative religious creed, known abroad as Wahhabism, endangers minorities and feeds terrorism. Iranian officials did not immediately respond to Prince Mohammed’s statements.

The prince said that dialogue with Iran was impossible because of its belief in the Imam Mahdi, the so-called hidden imam, who many Shiites believe is a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad who will return to save the world from destruction.

“Their stance is that the awaited Mahdi will come, and they need to create a fertile environment for the arrival of the awaited Mahdi, and they need to take over the Islamic world,” he said. “Where are the common points that we might be able to reach an understanding on with this regime?”

Prince Mohammed gave a positive view of the war in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia and a coalition of Arab countries have been bombing for more than two years to try to push Shiite rebels aligned with Iran out of the capital.

He said that Saudi forces could uproot the rebels “in a few days,” but that doing so would kill thousands of Saudi troops and many civilians. So, he said, the coalition is waiting for the rebels to tire out.

Aid organizations have been sounding the alarm about an escalating humanitarian crisis and the threat of famine in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country, exacerbated by a Saudi-led blockade of rebel-held territory and airstrikes on a key seaport.

Prince Mohammed said Saudi Arabia was in no hurry.

“Time is in our favor,” he said.

The prince spoke during an extended interview that was broadcast simultaneously on a number of Saudi-owned satellite networks and heavily promoted in advance. It was his second television interview since his father, King Salman, assumed the throne in 2015.

The king has vested enormous power in his son, who runs the Defense Ministry, oversees the state oil company, and is spearheading a program known as Vision 2030 to reduce the kingdom’s dependence on oil and improve the quality of life for Saudi citizens.

Much of the interview was aimed at a domestic audience, with Prince Mohammed assuring Saudis that the government was working hard to fight corruption and improve the economy, which has been hurt by low oil prices.

The prince’s high public profile has caused many in the kingdom to speculate that he wants to succeed his father on the throne, displacing Mohammed bin Nayef, the current crown prince.

During the nearly hourlong interview, he did not mention the crown prince once.