Saudi Prince's Apocalyptic Warning Was Issued Last Summer

"If we are wise, we must leave this country to its people, whose dislike for us is increasing" - Saudi Prince Turki

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(TEHRAN Press TV) - A letter written by Saudi Prince Turki bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud last June warned the Saudi Arabia's royal family to step down and flee before a military coup or a popular uprising overthrows the kingdom.

The letter was published today as a breaking new item that almost anyone would assume is tied to the current demonstrations taking place in Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia.

But it is not. The letter was published months ago.

That doesn't necessarily make it insignificant, but the timing in this event is important to understand.

The letter published by Cairo's Wagze news agency (al Jazeera) on Tuesday, the Cairo-based prince warned Saudi Arabia's ruling family of a fate similar to that of Iraq's executed dictator Saddam Hussein and the ousted Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, calling on them to escape before people "cut off our heads in streets."

According to Press TV:

"He warned that the Saudi royal family is no longer able to 'impose' itself on people, arguing that deviations in carrying out the religious concepts that make up the basis of the Saudi government 'have gotten out of our hands,' so that the opposition views our acts as 'interfering in people's private life and restricting their liberties.'"

They reported that Prince Turki advised Saudi officials to escape with their families, "If we are wise, we must leave this country to its people, whose dislike for us is increasing."

The letter according to Press TV also stated:

"Do it today before tomorrow as long as the money we have is enough for us to live anywhere in the world; from Switzerland to Canada and Australia. We should not return as long as we are able to get out safely, we must take our families quickly and pull out," he urged.

"Do not fool yourself by relying on the United States or Britain or Israel, because they will not survive the loss; the only door open is now the exit door of no return. Let us go before it closes."

He finally warned against a military coup against the ruling family, saying "no one will attack us from outside but our armed forces will attack us."

Prince Turki is a member of the liberal Free Princes movement founded in the 1950s amid tensions between King Faisal and his brother King Saud, requesting the Saudi authorities to implement political reforms and set out a constitution.

The late King Faisal expelled members of the civil rights group to Egypt but later on pardoned them.

This subject came up last June, as earlier referenced.

Every threat leads to a counter threat

As published 22 June 2010 in the article titled: US military pressure increasing in the Persian Gulf by Maurizio d'Orlando

For its part, Iran’s PressTV news network published an article in English that quotes from a letter written by a member of the Saudi royal family, Prince Turki bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud (see “Prince warns S. Arabia of apocalypse,” in PressTV, 9 June 2010), that was published by Cairo-based Arabic-language Wagze news agency.

The prince, who has lived in Egypt for years after falling out with Saudi Arabia’s reining family, warns the dynasty and its members that they are at risk because they are hated by the population. A coup could remove them from power, putting their lives in great danger. He urges them to leave and, in a somewhat dramatic tone, find refuge abroad before people "cut off our heads in streets."

Most people living in the kingdom’s oil-rich regions are Shia, like in Iran. Shia Islam and the Wahhabi-oriented Sunni Islam backed by the Saudi dynasty are not exactly on friendly terms.

The publication of the story based on the prince’s letter shows what strategy Iran might adopt in case of an attack. It suggests that Tehran might try to cause havoc in its neighbour, Saudi Arabia, and thus put at risk the latter’s oil exports. In that case, the effects on oil prices would be huge since the desert kingdom is the world’s largest oil producer. Even so, it is still unclear how serious Iran’s threat to the Saudi royal family really is.

However, the letter also contains another element. "Do not fool yourself by relying on the United States or Britain or Israel,” the prince tells his family, “because they will not survive the loss”. What this actually means is unclear. Does he mean economic loss, military loss? Perhaps this obscure passage is a warning the Iranian network attributes to the prince in order to hint that Tehran might call for a ‘Jihad’, a holy war to urge the masses to rise up in Muslim countries and for Islamist cells to launch terrorist attacks.

Here too it is unclear how a hypothetical Iranian appeal to Islamic solidarity might unfold in the case of an attack and a terrorist counterattack.