Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman found himself under intense scrutiny at the White House as families of the 9/11 victims renewed their demand for accountability. Addressing reporters alongside US President Donald Trump, the Crown Prince insisted that Osama bin Laden deliberately used Saudi nationals in the 2001 attacks in order to shatter the strategic US Saudi partnership. Responding to repeated questions on the September 11 tragedy, Prince Salman emphasised that the attacks were designed to weaken the long standing ties between the two nations. He stressed that Saudi Arabia has been working diligently to ensure that such an incident never recurs.
Quoting CIA documents, the Crown Prince said, "I feel painful about the families of my wife and I that live in America. But we must focus on reality. Based on CIA documents, Osama Bin Laden used Saudi people at that event for one main purpose -- to destroy this relation, to destroy the American-Saudi relation. That's the purpose of 9-11. So, whoever buys that, that means they are helping Osama bin Laden's purpose of destroying this relation. He knows that strong relation between America and Saudi Arabia is bad for extremism. It's bad for terrorism." He emphasised that the two countries must strengthen their partnership to counter global threats. "We must prove him wrong and continue to build our relationship. It's critical in the safety of the world."
'A huge mistake', says Crown Prince on 9/11
Prince Salman reiterated that the 9/11 attacks were a "huge mistake" and added that his government has taken extensive measures to prevent similar tragedies. "It's really painful to hear (about) anyone who has been losing his life for, you know, no real purpose or not in a legal way. It's been painful for us in Saudi Arabia. We did all the right steps of investigation, et cetera, in Saudi Arabia, and we've improved our system to be sure that nothing happened like that. It's painful and a huge mistake. We are doing our best that this doesn't happen again," he said.
Trump defends MBS on Khashoggi murder
The joint media interaction also saw heated exchange over the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. A reporter questioning Trump about the killing prompted an angry response, with the President defending the Crown Prince. "He (Salman) knew nothing about it," Trump asserted. This defence came despite a 2021 US intelligence assessment concluding that Prince Salman had approved the operation. The Crown Prince termed the incident "painful" while continuing to deny any role in the killing of Khashoggi, a staunch critic of the Saudi leadership, who was murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
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