RIYADH – Saudi Arabia’s crown prince said in an interview aired on Sundaythat war with Iran would devastate the global economy and he prefers anon-military solution to tensions with his regional rival.
“If the world does not take a strong and firm action to deter Iran, we willsee further escalations that will threaten world interests,” Saudi CrownPrince Mohammed bin Salman ─ known as MBS for short ─ told the *CBS*program “60Minutes”.
“Oil supplies will be disrupted and oil prices will jump to unimaginablyhigh numbers that we haven’t seen in our lifetimes,” the crown prince said.
MBS said a war between Saudi Arabia and Iran would be catastrophic for theworld economy.
“The region represents about 30 per cent of the world’s energy supplies,about 20 per cent of global trade passages, about four per cent of theworld GDP. Imagine all of these three things stop,” he said.
“This means a total collapse of the global economy, and not just SaudiArabia or the Middle East countries.”
MBS said attack on Saudi oil facilities, which his country and the USblamed on Iran, had been senseless.
“There is no strategic goal. Only a fool would attack five per cent ofglobal supplies. The only strategic goal is to prove that they are stupidand that is what they did,” said the crown prince.
He was asked point-blank if he ordered the killing and dismemberment ofjournalist Jamal Khashoggi in October last year.
“Absolutely not. This was a heinous crime. But I take full responsibilityas a leader in Saudi Arabia, especially since it was committed byindividuals working for the Saudi government,” he said.
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“When a crime is committed against a Saudi citizen by officials, workingfor the Saudi government, as a leader I must take responsibility. This wasa mistake.”Body never found
MBS, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, has come under huge internationalpressure after the US-based writer was killed and dismembered in the Saudiconsulate in Istanbul.
Khashoggi’s body was never found.
The crown prince has said the killing was carried out without his knowledge.
Riyadh has repeatedly denied that the crown prince was behind the murder ofKhashoggi — a royal family insider turned critic and a US resident — whowas killed in what Saudi authorities have described as a rogue operation.
A report by a UN human rights expert, who conducted an independent probe,said there was “credible evidence” linking the crown prince to the murderand an attempted cover up.
The CIA has also reportedly said the killing was likely ordered by MBS.
But Saudi prosecutors have absolved the crown prince and said around twodozen people implicated in the murder are in custody, with death penaltiessought against five men. -APP/AFP
