Mar 29, 2018

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s war of words against Iran seems to have had a unifying effect among usually divided Iranians. The 32-year-old prince adopted a particularly tough tone against Tehran during his March 19 interview with CBS' "60 Minutes," sparking Iranian anger both toward him and Saudi Arabia.

In the interview, Mohammed accused Iran of supporting terrorism, saying, “Many of the al-Qaeda operatives are protected in Iran. … This includes the son of Osama bin Laden, the new leader of al-Qaeda. He lives in Iran and works out of Iran. He is supported by Iran.” Mohammed also ridiculed the idea of Iran and Saudi Arabia being comparable in terms of military and economic strength and said, “Iran is not a rival to Saudi Arabia. Its army is not among the top five armies in the Muslim world. The Saudi economy is larger than the Iranian economy. Iran is far from being equal to Saudi Arabia.”

These statements quickly triggered reactions in Iran, where people took to social media to express their anger. Many criticized Mohammed on Twitter, with some arguing that despite its powerful army and three years of war, Saudi Arabia has yet to succeed in Yemen. While Persian social media is usually sorely divided over political issues, there seems to be a consensus when it comes to condemnation of Mohammed's words.

In addition to condemning the Saudi-led war in Yemen, other Iranians were quick to point out the contradictions in Mohammed's statements. For instance, Bahman Kalbasi, a New York correspondent for BBC Persian — which is outlawed in Iran — tweeted March 15, “The Saudi crown prince has given an interview to CBS’ '60 Minutes' on the verge of his visit to the United States. On the one hand, he says Iran’s army and economy is so weak that it cannot be a rival for Saudi Arabia. On the other hand, he says Iran’s [supreme] leader is the new Hitler and is seeking to expand his power.”

Meanwhile, calls have been made on Instagram to target all social media pages linked to Mohammed. Amid these calls, “Special Royal” — which claims to be a dedicated account for the images and life of the crown prince — has come under attack by Persian speakers who have written anti-Mohammed comments in both Persian and Arabic.