US presidential candidate Donald Trump described Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as a “visionary” during an interview on his proposed Middle East policy with Al Arabiya ’s Washington bureau chief, Nadia Bilbassy-Charters. Trump also touched on his son-in-law Jared Kushner’s private equity firm Affinity Partners and its investment ties with PIF, as well as the Trump Organization’s real estate ambitions in Saudi and the GCC. The Huffington Post picked up the interview.
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The extent of Saudi’s involvement in the 2021 takeover talks for English Premier League club Newcastle is the focus of a piece from the Telegraph that relies primarily on alleged leaked WhatsApp messages.
Meanwhile, CNN is out with a piece on the Kingdom’s growing engagement with Iran, amid US failure to quell growing tensions in the region. The Crown Prince met with Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghch in Riyadh two weeks ago, with Saudi officials sitting down with their Iranian counterparts on at least two other occasions during the month. The meetings signal a shift in strategy to contain threats from Iran, CNN says.