Saudi Arabia’s Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), said that the Kingdom’s dispute with neighboring Qatar hasn’t taken a toll on investment.
“Qatar is a very, very, very small issue," Prince Mohammed told Reuters in an interview late on Wednesday.
The Saudi-led Arab quartet, which also includes the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, cut diplomatic ties with Qatar on June 5 and has imposed an air, sea and land embargo against the country, citing Doha's support to terrorism and extremists.
They initially made 13 demands, which Qatar also dismissed.
Speaking on the Yemen crisis, Prince Mohammed said the war would continue in order to prevent the Houthi insurgents from turning into another "Hezbollah" on Saudi's southern border.
"We’re pursuing until we can be sure that nothing will happen there like Hezbollah again, because Yemen is more dangerous than Lebanon," he said.
Tehran-backed Hezbollah is operating in Syria in support of Bashar al-Assad. The Houthis also receive arms and training from Iran.
Yemen's location is crucial, said Prince Mohammed. "It’s next to Bab al-Mandab so if something happens there, that means 10 percent of world trade stops," he added, referring to the strait at the southern end of the Red Sea.
"This is the crisis."
