Saudi Arabia releases video to negate rumours of Crown Prince's assassination

Iran and Saudi Arabia are fierce rivals in Middle East with both countries vying for influence in the region

The royal family of Saudi Arabia on Wednesday has released an official video which shows Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman attending a summit in response to negate previously spread 'fake news' that the Crown Prince had been killed.

According to news on Daily Mail, the video shows Salman greeting Yemeni President Abdrabbo Mansour Hadi in Jeddah to discuss the ongoing Yemen crisis which was reported earlier on Al-Arabiya.

سمو #ولي_العهد الأمير #محمد_بن_سلمان والرئيس اليمني #هادي يبحثان المستجدات والتطورات على الساحة اليمنية والجهود المبذولة تجاهها، بالإضافة إلى الأعمال الإغاثية الإنسانية والتنموية للشعب اليمني الشقيق. pic.twitter.com/5aNBaVIoyG

— بدر العساكر B.Asaker (@Badermasaker) May 30, 2018

The video was published following claims that Salman, who has been attempting to reform Saudi Arabia by wresting power away from the country's conservative forces, was shot dead in Riyadh on April 21 in a coup attempt.

The video was published a week after the regime issued pictures of Salman chairing a Council of Economic Affairs and Development meeting.

Saudi Arabia has always denied that any coup attempt took place, saying videos of heavy gunfire at the palace was guards shooting down a civilian drone.

[gallery ids="1724614"]

Iranian media had speculated that Prince Salman had been arrested or that he was even killed during the 'coup'.

Iran and Saudi Arabia are fierce rivals in the Middle East with both countries vying for influence in the region, including in Lebanon and Yemen.

Iran's Kayhan newspaper has claimed: 'At least two bullets have hit bin Salman in April 21 clashes in Riyadh and it is even possible that he is dead.'



The paper speculated about why Salman was not pictured when new U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo paid his first visit to Saudi Arabia Riyadh in late April - but King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir were.

PHOTO COURTESY - SPA

'There is plenty of evidence to suggest that the absence of nearly 30 days of Muhammad bin Sulman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, is due to an incident which is being hidden from the public,' Kayhan claimed.

Last week the prince's press spokesperson tweeted pictures of him chairing a meeting of the Council for Economic and Development Affairs.

Salman is seeking to reform Saudi Arabia and has introduced measures to loosen the country's strict gender segregation and crackdown on corruption.



He has also recently signalled a softening of the Saudi attitude to Israel saying it has a 'right' to a homeland in comments that go further than any other Arab leader.

Saudi Arabia and Israel still have no formal diplomatic relations, but behind the scenes, improvements in their ties have accelerated in recent years.

Both countries see Iran as their biggest outside threat and the United States as their key ally, and both see danger from armed Islamist extremists.