Riyadh, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, stood at the window of his father's room in the towering King Saud Medical Complex, in the heart of Riyadh. The room was silent, with King Salman laying with his eyes half shut in the bed, his family and the Crown Prince's entourage surrounding him. Unbeknownst to the Saudi people, their King had fallen ill days prior, pneumonia, the same conditions that took his half-brother and predecessor. Not a single tear rolled down his face as he turned to take a last look at his father. He was motioned over by the King, for what he anticipated to be his final words.
"Do good." King Salman whispered in his ear. That was enough for Mohammed, who stepped back as the life support machine flatlined, and the King was pronounced dead by the doctor. With that, ended almost a decade of rule, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was now King Mohammed bin Salman.
"The Custodian of the two Holy Mosques, King Salman, has passed away today at exactly 12:30 PM, Rahimahullaah. Today marks a new future for Saudi Arabia. I will continue to defend the values of Islam and to defend our constitution."
The news spread fast, the death of the Saudi king as tensions with Iran flared. His successor, an alleged reformist, who many, while mourning the death of the King, welcomed his succession to the throne. He was described as a pragmatist on domestic issues, but will not shy away from conflict, direct or in proxy, with Iran. A day later, an emergency meeting of the Shura was convened so that King Mohammed bin Salman could reveal his plans for the future of Saudi Arabia. Yemen was a hot topic expected to be discussed, but the new King wanted to focus on the country first, specifically the economy.
"My loyal subjects. Let me make one clear point: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the strongest power in the Middle East and North Africa, and forever will hold that position. No amount of Israeli or Iranian aggression will weaken us, or weaken Islam. That being said, we face many problems. Oil is a finite resource, we have by our estimates, less than a century of oil left. We can easily afford to go another half century with our economy resting on oil alone, but I do not like that line of thought, waiting until the last minute to avert disaster. Instead, I propose we speed up our oil production, we sell it quicker and for the next decade create a large fund, to begin designing a new economy. The technology sector - information, robotics, manufacturing - is still ripe for us to invest in. An Arab-centric technology company, manufacturing phones and computers for Arab consumers could be an incredible investment for us to make. That's just a suggestion of course. Regardless of what we do, we must, and I mean, MUST, diversify our economy. Liberalizing our markets, opening them to further investment from the west could provide us with so much. I ask you, the Shura Council, to tell me now, do you agree we must diversify our economy from just oil?"
To King Mohammed's pleasure, 137 members of the Shura Council agreed with him.
"That is interesting. I now must outline another policy I intend to embark on, Iran. They have gotten more aggressive, and we must counter that. We spend 10% of our GDP on the military, and it's clearly not enough. I am proposing an increase from 10%, to 11.5%. To add to that, my advisers here have established a committee to allocate military spending much more efficiently. The Iranians must be warned, we are prepared to launch full-scale military operations at any minute, especially to counter their so-called revolution."
Mohammed was prepared to make a tough decision. A false-flag terror attack in downtown Riyadh, targeting both Saudi and foreign civilians. They would blame it on Iranian backed militants from Yemen, and use it as their casus belli to increase military operations in Yemen. It wasn't something he wanted to do, but he had to give the order to carry it out. Setting off a car bomb and killing twenty or so people on King Fahad Road was a small price to pay to counter Iranian aggression and to restore stability to the Middle East. With a deep breath, he signed off on the order.