INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
At the end of a year that brought the Gulf to the brink of war, a senior Saudi royal has told Sky News Iran's actions could still provoke
conflict and the world should be worried.Tensions escalated in the summer when four oil tankers were attacked and Iranseized a
British-flagged vessel in the Straits of Hormuz.Prince Turki al Faisal has decades of experience to draw on from his time as the head of
Saudi Arabia's intelligence arm, and as ambassador to both the UK and US.Speaking to Sky News while in London to promote an exhibition about
his father King Faisal, he shared with me one of his favourite quotes: "History is just one damned thing after another", as Arnold Toynbee
once observed.Image:The Iranian government feeling increasingly beleagueredThis year has seen everything but open war break out over the
Tankers aflame at sea; Iranian commandos storming a British vessel; an American drone knocked out of the skies and Saudi Arabia's oil
production knocked out by an attack blamed on Iran.Tensions appear to have eased on the surface, but Prince Turki is warning there's every
reason to be deeply worried."We have seen no signs from Iran that they are pulling back on their very negative and provocative military
posturing - not just towards Saudi Arabia - but towards the rest of the countries in the area," he said.And on the prospect of escalations
leading to open conflict he is far from sanguine."Nobody wants war, that's for sure, because nobody will be a winner in a military conflict
The destruction will be universal."There is plenty of reason to be worried.To the north an Iranian government feeling increasingly
Under Donald Trump, the US has sided openly with its Saudi rivals, pulled out of the Iranian nuclear deal and abandoned any pretence at even
handed diplomacy.Iran's economy is going from bad to worse, thanks to US sanctions and the country has seen some of its worst unrest in
years, brutally put down with the deaths of hundreds of protesters.Laleh Khalili, professor of middle eastern politics at SOAS, told Sky
News a cornered Iranian government is potentially dangerous.Seized UK-flagged tanker leaves IranHe said: "There is a chance that the Iranian
regime might lash out not only because it wants a distraction but because it thinks that these protests which I believe are genuine popular
protests against the regime are being sponsored from the outside."To the south, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has not done enough
to ease fears about his judgement after the disastrous war in Yemen, while the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggiwas blamed by the CIA
directly on him.Critics of the Trump administration Washington has given the crown prince carte blanche to act with impunity
Without restraint they fear Saudi Arabia Iran remain potentially on collision course.The tensions of 2019 could yet erupt into open
hostility in the new year.
