Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman's interview on Wednesday night with Bret Baier of Fox News didn’t break news or produce controversy.
The crown prince’s remarks, covering a range of issues both domestic and foreign, were quite familiar to those who have followed him since his unchallenged rise to power in 2017. But that wasn’t the point of his appearance on one of America’s top networks.
The purpose was for him to speak directly to the American people in English, through a television channel that averages more than a million viewers every month, and for Fox News to have an exclusive with an increasingly relevant world leader whose country matters a great deal to the United States given its unmatched influence in the global energy markets.
During the interview, Mohammed bin Salman looked quite comfortable and well-prepared, bombarding Baier with numbers about his country’s economic growth.
I will limit my commentary to three issue areas the crown prince discussed during his chat, appearing in chronological order: 1) the relationship with Israel; 2) the relationship with the United States; 3) the relationship with Iran.
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