BICOM

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has warned that his country would build nuclear weapons if Iran were to develop them.

Speaking to US broadcaster CBS News, the Crown Prince said that “Saudi Arabia does not want to acquire any nuclear bomb, but without a doubt, if Iran developed a nuclear bomb, we will follow suit as soon as possible.”

Crown Prince Mohammed also compared Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to Adolf Hitler, saying: “He wants to create his own project in the Middle East very much like Hitler who wanted to expand at the time. Many countries around the world and in Europe did not realise how dangerous Hitler was until what happened, happened. I don’t want to see the same events happening in the Middle East.”

Saudi Arabia has been developing plans for a civil nuclear power industry as part of the Crown Prince’s reforms, to reduce their dependence on the oil industry. The United States, South Korea, Russia, France and China are bidding for a multi-billion dollar contract to build the country’s first two nuclear reactors.

This week Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “many countries in the Middle East say that they too should be allowed to enrich uranium if Iran is allowed to”. According to Channel 10 news, US President Donald Trump told Netanyahu in their meeting this month that if the US did not build the reactor, then Russia or China would.

The full interview with the Crown Prince, the first a Saudi leader has given to a US TV network since 2005, is due to be broadcast on Sunday’s 60 Minutes prime time programme, ahead of his visit to the US next week.