Saudis claim diplomatic victory on Iran

The kingdom says Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal vindicates its long-standing regional strategy

In a banner article on its front page on Friday, the daily Al-Riyadh newspaper, which reflects the thinking of the royal court, praised the US president for taking his country out of the Iran accord—or what it called "the flawed nuclear deal". The article, written by the paper's political editor, went on to describe the White House decision as "a victory for Saudi diplomacy". The kingdom, the writer continued, had exposed "the major drawbacks to the agreement". Furthermore, Saudi diplomacy had succeeded, while "diplomatic efforts by France, Germany and the United Kingdom to win Trump over had failed". During a recent visit to France, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said the Iran nuclear dea