(24.Juni) Therefore, eyebrows will be raised that the US State Department chose to come out with a suo moto statement on Tuesday coinciding with the royal decree on MbS’ appointment as Crown Prince, which cast aspersions on the Saudi stance in the standoff with Qatar (which of course carries MbS’s imprimatur.) The state department spokesperson Heather Nauert hinted at the US “having to step in in some sort of formal mediation role”, and went on to make a surprisingly pointed reference to Saudi Arabia’s past involvement in terrorism – “whether it is through terror financing or other means” – and for not doing enough to fight terrorism.