Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman said in an interview aired on Sunday that war with Iran would devastate the global economy and he preferred a non-military solution to tensions with his regional rival.
“If the world does not take a strong and firm action to deter Iran, we will see further escalations that will threaten world interests,” Prince Mohammad told the CBS program 60 Minutes.
“Oil supplies will be disrupted and oil prices will jump to unimaginably high numbers that we haven’t seen in our lifetimes,” he said.
Photo: Reuters
A war between Saudi Arabia and Iran would be catastrophic for the world economy, he said.
“The region represents about 30 percent of the world’s energy supplies, about 20 percent of global trade passages, about 4 percent of the world GDP. Imagine [if] all of these three things stop,” he said.
“This means a total collapse of the global economy, and not just Saudi Arabia or the Middle East countries,” he added.
He said that the Sept. 14 attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities, which his country and the US blamed on Iran, had been senseless.
“There is no strategic goal. Only a fool would attack 5 percent of global supplies. The only strategic goal is to prove that they are stupid and that is what they did,” the prince said.
Prince Mohammad was asked point-blank if he ordered the killing and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October last year.
“Absolutely not. This was a heinous crime, but I take full responsibility as a leader in Saudi Arabia, especially since it was committed by individuals working for the Saudi government,” he said.
“When a crime is committed against a Saudi citizen by officials, working for the Saudi government, as a leader I must take responsibility. This was a mistake,” he said.
Prince Mohammad, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, has come under huge international pressure after the US-based writer was killed and dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Khashoggi’s body was never found.
The prince has said the killing was carried out without his knowledge.
A report by a UN human rights expert, who conducted an independent probe, said there was “credible evidence” linking the crown prince to the murder and an attempted cover up.
The CIA has also reportedly said the killing was likely ordered by Prince Mohammad.
However, Saudi Arabian prosecutors have absolved the prince and said about two dozen people implicated in the murder are in custody, with death penalties sought against five men.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country would continue with efforts to shed light on the killing of Khashoggi.
In a Washington Post op-ed published yesterday, Erdogan described Khashoggi’s killing by a Saudi hit squad as “arguably the most influential and controversial incident of the 21st century.”
Erdogan said Turkey would keep asking: “Where are Khashoggi’s remains? Who signed the Saudi journalist’s death warrant? Who dispatched the 15 killers aboard two planes to Istanbul.”
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