Mohammed bin Salman — TIME interview (during his April 2018 U.S. tour)

TIME: How long have you been thinking about doing this [tour], and what's your rationale behind this?

Mohammed bin Salman: When I started to think about doing a tour, we had a plan for Saudi Arabia. […] The United States of America is one of our oldest allies in the whole world, and we are the oldest ally of the United States of America in the Middle East.

(On the economy) We spend $230 billion US a year outside Saudi Arabia. […] The plan is to spend half of it in Saudi Arabia. […] At the top of the pyramid we have the IPO of Aramco, pushing this money […] into the public investment fund, and pushing it to be the biggest fund in the whole world, above $2 trillion.

(On Islam after 1979) We believe the practice today in a few countries, among them Saudi Arabia, it's not the practice of Islam. It's the practice of the people who have hijacked Islam after '79. […] So if someone comes and says 'women cannot participate in sport,' we tell them how about the Prophet raced with his wife. If someone comes and say 'women cannot do business,' the wife of the Prophet, she is a businesswoman […]. I am young. I don't want 70 percent of the Saudi population to waste their lives trying to get rid of this. We want to do it now.

(On Wahhabism) What's Wahhabist? […] there is nothing called Wahhabist. And this is one of the ideas of the extremists after '79 […]. In Saudi Arabia we have Sunni and Shiite sects. […] they are living normally in Saudi Arabia.

(On Iran) They are doing that from '79, and if you see any problem in the Middle East, you will find Iran. Iraq? Iran's there. Yemen? Iran is there. Syria? Iran is there. Lebanon? Iran's there. Where is the stable country? […] all the stable countries they are stable because Iran didn't engage in it.