Saudi Crown Prince warns of Iran escalation, says he prefers political solution

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince warned in an interview broadcast on Sunday that oil prices could spike to “unimaginably high numbers” if the world does not come together to deter Iran, but said he would prefer a political solution to a military one.

Speaking to the CBS program “60 Minutes,” Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said he agreed with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the September 14 attacks, which damaged the world’s biggest petroleum-processing facility and knocked out more than 5 percent of global oil supply, were an Iranian “act of war.”

“If the world does not take a strong and firm action to deter Iran, we will see further escalations that will threaten world interests,” the crown prince said. “Oil supplies will be disrupted and oil prices will jump to unimaginably high numbers that we haven’t seen in our lifetimes.”

But he said he preferred a peaceful resolution because a war between Saudi Arabia and Iran would collapse the global economy.

The United States, European powers, Saudi Arabia and the Arab Coalition have blamed the attacks on Iran, providing evidence that the weapons used were Iranian. Tehran denies involvement. The Iranian-backed Houthis have claimed they launched the attacks from Yemen, an account which has been dismissed as “entirely implausible.”

Saudi Arabia is in consultations with its allies regarding the response to the attacks. “The political and peaceful solution is much better than the military one,” said the crown prince.

The crown prince also said US President Donald Trump should meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to craft a new deal on Tehran’s nuclear program and influence across the Middle East.

“This is what President Trump is asking for, this is what we all ask for. However, it is the Iranians who don’t want to sit at the table,” he told CBS’ Norah O’Donnell on “60 Minutes”.

The crown prince also repeated the call for Iran to halt its support for Houthi militias in Yemen and said he was open to “all initiatives for a political solution” to end the war there.