RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia’s Prince Saud al-Faisal, who was the world’s longest-serving foreign minister with 40 years in the post until his retirement this year, has died, the ministry spokesman said Friday. He was 75.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal meets with the Russian foreign minister on November 21, 2014 in Moscow.
VASILY MAXIMOV/AFP/Getty Images
The tall, stately Prince Saud was a fixture of Mideast diplomacy, representing the oil-rich Gulf powerhouse as it wielded its influence in crisis after crisis shaking the region – from Lebanon’s civil war in the 1970s and 1980s, through multiple rounds of Arab-Israeli peace efforts, the 1990 Iraqi invasion of neighboring Kuwait and the subsequent Gulf War, al-Qaeda’s 9/11 attacks in the United States, the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq to the current day’s tensions between the Gulf and Iran, Arab Spring uprisings, Syrian civil war and the spread of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) extremists.
He was praised by President Obama as a committed and accomplished diplomat.
At each turn, he advanced the goals of peace, whether negotiating the end to Lebanon’s civil war or helping to launch the Arab Peace Initiative, Obama said in a statement.
Saudi Foreign Ministry spokesman, Osama Nugali announced Saud’s death on his official Twitter feed, saying, The eye tears, the heart saddens. We all are saddened to be separated from you. He did not elaborate on the cause of death. The prince had undergone multiple surgeries in recent years for his back, which left him walking with a cane, and for other ailments.
The prince, who took the ministry post in 1975, retired on April 29, citing health reasons. At the time, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry hailed him, saying he has not just been the planet’s longest-serving Foreign Minister but also among the wisest. He was succeeded in the post by Adel al-Jubeir, who before that was Saudi Arabia’s ambassador in Washington.
Saud was the son of Saudi Arabia’s third king, Faisal, who ruled from 1964 until he was assassinated in 1975. Prince Saud, who had a bachelor’s degree in economics from Princeton University and had been deputy petroleum minister, was soon after appointed to the foreign minister post, which his father had held during his reign. The young prince, fluent in English and French, brought an air of sophistication and charisma, whether in crisp suits or in the traditional Saudi white robe and gold-trimmed black cloak with a red-checkered head piece. Soft spoken, he often showed a sense of humor not often seen among the publicly stolid royal family.
Mamoun Fandy, author of Saudi Arabia and the Politics of Dissent, said his death marks the end of an era.
The history of Saudi foreign policy is al-Faisal, both him and his father, he said. It’s how the world knew Saudi Arabia, through al-Faisal.
He led Saudi diplomacy over a period that saw the kingdom – once better known for behind-the-scenes influence – become more overt in throwing its weight in affairs across the Mideast. Tending to the alliance with the United States was a major part of that. Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait brought U.S. troops to Saudi Arabia, a deployment that raised some opposition among Saudis. Al-Faisal played a key role in patching ties with the United States which were strained by the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, in which 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals.
After the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq ousted Saddam, Saudi Arabia often bristled over the consequences – the rise of Shiite power in Baghdad and the growing influence there of Shiite-led Iran, the kingdom’s top rival. Saud had to explain to the world how they hated Saddam Hussein, but objected handing over Iraq to Iran, Fandy said.
Al-Faisal was not seen as a hawk toward Iran, but was part of the leadership that saw the Shiite powerhouse across the Gulf as the main challenge to Sunni-led Saudi Arabia. Last year, he invited Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to visit Saudi Arabia, but later accused Iran of fomenting unrest throughout the Middle East. Zarif ended up visiting shortly after King Abdullah’s death in late January and expressed hopes of greater co-operation with the Sunni-ruled kingdom.
In one of his last public appearances as foreign minister in March, he helped rally efforts for Saudi Arabia to lead a coalition of Arab countries to bomb Yemeni Shiite rebels who had taken over the capital there. We are not warmongers, but if the drums of war call for it, we are prepared, Saud said in a speech to the consultative Shura Council, arguing that Yemen was integral to overall Gulf security and that Iran was behind the rebels.