MBS says Saudi Arabia will build a nuclear weapon if Iran does

Saudi Arabia's crown prince has said that his kingdom does not want to build a nuclear weapon, but it is prepared to do so if necessary.

Citing the potential threat of Iran developing nuclear military capabilities, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said the kingdom would "without a doubt" do the same.

"We don’t want to acquire nuclear weapons. But, if Iran develops a bomb, we will do the same in the near future,” the prince said in an interview with CBS News.

The comment, which will air as a part of the news magazine program 60 Minutes on Sunday, marks the first U.S. television interview given by a Saudi leader since 2005.

Norah O’Donnell, the journalist conducting the interview, discussed a range of issues with the 32-year-old Saudi leader, including pointed questions regarding regional tensions with Iran.

However, Prince Mohammed dismissed Iran as an insignificant threat to the kingdom.

"Iran is not a rival to Saudi Arabia. Its army is not among the top five armies in the Muslim world. The Saudi economy is larger than the Iranian economy. Iran is far from being equal to Saudi Arabia," he said.

The crown prince also explained why he readily refers to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei as "the new Hitler."

"He wants to expand. He wants to create his own project in the Middle East very much like Hitler who wanted to expand at the time," Prince Mohammed said. 

"Many countries around the world and in Europe did not realize how dangerous Hitler was until what happened, happened. I don't want to see the same events happening in the Middle East."

Reiterating and expanding on the crown prince's criticism of Iran's leader,  Editor-in-Chief of Al Arabiya News Channel’s digital platforms Mamdouh Al Muhaini highlighted the similarities between Khamenei and Hitler.

"The strategy of the 'new Hitler' is close to Hitler’s regime. It is based on the policy of divisions inside Arab and Islamic countries by claiming it defends persecuted segments. It then infiltrates the country and extends its influence. We have seen this in Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq," Al Muhaini wrote in an op-ed this week.

"It also uses propaganda, as per totalitarian regimes’ traditional approach, to spread lies which followers and sympathizers market to depict a semi-democratic image of a regime that calls for peace and rapprochement when in fact it is an invading power that supports terrorist militias and uses fake religious slogans to market itself," he added.

The crown prince, who also serves as Saudi Arabia's defense minister, has previously said that any potential conflict with Iran would not take place on the kingdom's soil.

Last year, Prince Mohammed said he would ensure that any struggle between the two countries “is waged in Iran," according to Arab News.

Saudi Arabia has been a staunch critic of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iranian and Western leaders. The deal eased sanctions on Iran in return for assurances that the country would curb its nuclear program.

It remains to be seen whether U.S. President Donald Trump will reinstitute sanctions on Iran, formerly waived under the leadership of President Barack Obama as part of the nuclear deal. Currently, the U.S. sanctions are set to resume, unless Trump decides to waive them by May 12.