Saud bin Faisal Al Saud (Arabic: سعود بن فيصل آل سعود, romanized: Suʿūd ibn Fayṣal Āl Suʿūd), also known as Saud Al Faisal (Arabic: سعود الفيصل, Suʿūd Āl Fayṣal; 2 January 1940 – 9 July 2015), was a Saudi Arabian statesman and diplomat who served as the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia from 1975 to 2015.

[7][8] In 2007, he told Ford Fraker, then US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, that during his studies at Princeton, he would like to leave the university and to return to the country.

[7][10] Prince Saud served in this post at the oil ministry until 1975 when he was appointed as state minister for foreign affairs.

[12] He was relieved from the post on 29 April 2015 due to health problems and was replaced by Adel al-Jubeir, a former Saudi ambassador to the United States.

[17] In July 2004, he claimed the real source of problems in the Middle East were not Muslims but "injustice and deprivation inflicted in the region".

[18] In August 2007, he denied allegations that terrorists were travelling from Saudi Arabia to Iraq and claimed it was vice versa.

[citation needed] In February 2010, he told General Jones to distinguish between friends and enemies in Pakistan rather than using indiscriminate military action.

[25] After the U.S. Gulf Cooperation Council forum at the GCC secretariat in Riyadh on 31 March 2012, he said it was a "duty" to arm the Syrian opposition and help them defend themselves against the daily bloody crackdown by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

[27] Rather than military action on Iran, Saud Al Faisal called for tougher sanctions such as travel bans and further bank lending restrictions.

[citation needed] In early 2011, he expressed fear of the "dangerous" instability in Lebanon after the fall of the government led by Saad Hariri.

He also stated that Lebanon's ability to establish peaceful coexistence with so many different groups may be a significant loss in the Arab world if the nation failed in creating a government.

[24] In May 2014, it was reported that Prince Saud had invited Iran's foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to visit Riyadh, breaking the ice in one of the most hostile relationships in the Middle East ahead of key talks on Iran's nuclear program in Vienna.

[30] More specifically, Prince Saud was appointed chairman of the Saudi Aramco's committee charged with the project assessment in September 1999.

[31] On 20 November 2009, King Abdullah appointed Prince Saud as the chairman of the influential supreme economic council of Saudi Arabia.

[38][39] Prince Saud was married to his cousin Jawhara bint Abdullah bin Abdul Rahman,[8] and they have three sons and three daughters.

[51] With age, Saud faced many health problems, suffering from chronic back pain and having had various surgeries.

[53][54] His funeral prayer was held in Grand Mosque in Mecca on 12 July 2015, and he was buried in Al Adl cemetery.