Khalid bin Saqr Al Qasimi

To this end, Sheikh Khalid has become vocal about the increasing influence of Iran in Ras Al Khaimah. In a 2009 letter U.S. lawmakers he noted: "The supportive posture [RAK] takes toward the Islamic Republic of Iran is undermining the policies of the United States"...[RAK] has become "an increasingly important staging ground for Iranian efforts to circumvent international economic sanctions.

After 37 years in office, Khalid was removed as Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler on June 14, 2003 by his father and replaced by his younger half-brother Sheikh Saud bin Saqr al Qasimi.

Separate media reports attribute his removal from office to other factors, mainly that Sheikh Khalid was considered to be at odds with the political leadership of the UAE. Khalid's vocal hostility to the US intervention to depose Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath regime became a liability for the UAE. In 2003, he led a protest march of several hundred people through Ras-Al Khaimah that culminated with Khalid himself burning the American flag and allowed the local radio station to broadcast a consistently anti-US line. This occurred at a time when the federal government guided by Sheikh Zayed in Abu Dhabi was strengthening cooperation with the US.

Khalid also built a reputation for hardline opposition to Iran and its controversial occupation of the Tunb Islands, which had been under the long historical control of Ras Al Khaimah, but were forcibly seized by Iran on November 30, 1971.

Khalid served as the Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah from 1958 until his removal from office by his father in June 2003. He currently resides in Sharjah, a neighboring Emirate. Khalid has repeatedly stated that his father, Sheikh Saqr, in 2004 reaffirmed in a royal decree that Sheikh Khalid – not his half-brother, Sheikh Saud bin Saqr al Qasimi – was the true Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah. The claim has not been officially recognized by the Government of Ras Al Khaimah or the United Arab Emirates.

Sheikh Khalid was named Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah in 1958. As Crown Prince, Sheikh Khalid oversaw the day-to-day operations of the Ras Al Khaimah Government and served as principal contact with all foreign governments. He led high-level diplomatic missions to the United States during the Nixon, Reagan and Clinton Administrations. In 1999, President Clinton personally received him in the White House.

Sheikh Khalid bin Saqr Al Qasimi (born 1940) is the former Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, the northernmost Emirate of the United Arab Emirates. He is the eldest son of Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, who ruled Ras Al Khaimah from 1948 until his death in 2010.