The Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman (MBS) is currently attempting to project an image of neutrality with regard to the fluctuating political issues in the region, having plunged his country into major political and regional conflicts that have damaged the Kingdom’s economy, reputation among Muslims, regional status, and political approach.
US Secretary of State Blinken revealed during his recent visit to the Kingdom the possible normalization agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel although MBS has been standing by and watching, playing a neutral role, since the beginning of the Israeli war of genocide on Gaza and the outbreak of conflict in the Red Sea after the Houthis announced the cessation of all ships heading towards the Israeli occupation.
Why this sudden neutrality?
According to the Business Insider website, MBS started to experience serious economic problems in his nation. He also stated that his plan to diversify the Saudi economy by drawing in Arab and foreign tourists to Saudi Arabia was ineffective because, as stated in Vision 2030, Bin Salman wanted to see 150 million tourists visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by the year 2030. To this end, he started to establish new cities like NEOM, Al-Ula, The Line, and others, as well as resorts and entertainment centers modeled after Dubai, which has recently eclipsed the Gulf in popularity.
The website also noted that MBS’s conflicts and the political unrest surrounding the Kingdom, which he represented by the protracted war in Yemen, the siege of Qatar, and his prior support for coups and dictatorships in Egypt and Libya, as well as his conflict with Turkey, all damaged the reputation of the nation and pushed some Islamic religious scholars to urge Muslims not to travel to the Holy Lands until the MBS regime was deterred.
According to analysts, MBS led the nation on a tight political rope, particularly during the country’s crises with Iran and Yemen. This led the Saudi government to feel as though it had failed to manage the tourism sector, despite Bin Salman’s extolled virtues.
Christian Coates, a Middle East fellow at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, stated: “The Saudi state is very concerned about tensions and potential escalation in the Red Sea, because all of the ideas of Vision 2030 adopted by the Saudi Crown Prince are located along the Red Sea coast, and a resort is scheduled to open. The luxurious Sandalah Island in NEOM is being advertised as a “exclusive gateway to the stunning Red Sea,” but recent events suggest that bin Salman’s hopes are in jeopardized because Saudi officials think that demonstrating the sites’ safety from neighboring conflict zones will allow them to draw in luxury visitors.
It is important to note that the events of 2022, when the Houthis claimed to have attacked a Saudi fuel depot five miles from the racetrack, during the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Jeddah, had a very negative effect and caused the racers to express concerns.
Since he has contributed to escalating the region’s conflicts and the state treasury has suffered estimated financial losses in the tens of billions of dollars, MBS is becoming increasingly concerned about the events and crises in the region. The Kingdom has not benefited financially, socially, or politically from these losses.
