US intelligence and expansion within governments to blackmail them

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Afrasianet - Last April, CIA Director William Burns secretly met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the city of Jeddah, during the past month, as part of a regional tour.

The unusual meeting - which The Wall Street Journal was the first to report about - is considered The first known meeting between a top US spy and the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia. According to three informed sources, this was the latest attempt by high-ranking US officials to appeal to Saudi Arabia over oil amid soaring US gas prices.

While two sources, who were present at the talks, revealed to The Intercept that the topics on the table also included Saudi arms purchases from China.

The Intercept interviewed for this story a US intelligence official and two sources with ties to the US intelligence community who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, as well as a source close to members of the Saudi royal family and a think tank official.

The meeting was also an opportunity to bring up a subject of great concern to Washington.

Namely, Riyadh's growing relationship with China.

In addition to Burns' request about oil, the CIA director also asked Saudi Arabia not to continue buying weapons from China, according to two sources close to US intelligence.

Saudi Arabia's overtures to Beijing—most notably, exploring the possibility of selling its oil in the Chinese currency, the yuan—caused consternation in Washington.

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines warned this week, in Senate testimony, of efforts by China and Russia to "try to make progress with our partners around the world," pointing to Saudi Arabia and the UAE as examples.

What has not been publicly known, the source close to US intelligence, said is that the Saudi government is planning to import ballistic missiles later this month from China as part of a secret program dubbed "Crocodile".

The other source linked to US intelligence confirmed that the discussion was related to arms sales with China. On the other hand, the sources said that Burns also requested the release of several prominent Saudi royal family members who were detained by Muhammad bin Salman, including his cousin, the former Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef.

Muhammad bin Nayef was heir to the throne before he was overthrown by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2017. Because Muhammad bin Nayef is a close partner of US intelligence, the Biden administration pressed for his release amid allegations of torture.

Relying on a CIA director to conduct such a high-profile diplomatic engagement is highly unusual, but it offers at least one major advantage. It is secrecy.


The source close to the US intelligence said that Burns' presence was a way to try to repair the fraught relationship between Mohammed bin Salman and other senior officials in the Biden administration.

"What's different about this is that the Saudis are now looking to import complete missiles," said the source close to US intelligence.

There was no intimacy in the conversation because the CIA chose its man, Prince Muhammad bin Nayef, who was known as “the lover of the American intelligence and counterterrorism services.”

Muhammad bin Nayef became the CIA man in Saudi Arabia. Riedel portrayed him as a hero against al-Qaeda and an assassination survivor. Intelligence officials praised him, from George Tenet, who described him as “my best interlocutor,” to Leo Panetta, who said he was “the smartest Saudi of his generation.”

But the matter is different this time. The US intelligence services have replaced what is in public with other means. Reports say that many former US intelligence men work as advisors within the Saudi royal family, headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Despite their claim that they are retired, they represent the eye that reveals and conveys secrets inside the Saudi kingdom.

It is not surprising that America is trying to blackmail Saudi Arabia through this information at a time when it is in need of oil and gas and a change in OPEC policy.

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