We too will make nuclear bombs if Iran does, says Saudi Crown Prince

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed Bin Salman, on Thursday warned that if Iran will make nuclear bombs and nuclear weapons, his country too will follow the suit.

The crown prince, while giving an interview to a US television, said, “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.”

The 32-year-old prince said he had referred to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as “the new Hitler” because “he wants to expand”.

The prince said, “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 realize how dangerous Hitler was until what happened, happened. I don't want to see the same events happening in the Middle East.”

The interview is scheduled to be aired on CBS’s “60 Minutes” show on Sunday, two days before the crown prince’s White House meeting with US President Donald Trump. His warning comes amidst the concerns in the Middle East over nuclear proliferation.

The kingdom had put an atomic energy program on a fast track in the recent days, and the crown prince’s warnings come as a big threat to Iran. A 2015 nuclear agreement had placed curb on Iran’s nuclear program, but President Trump had expressed a desire to fight against it.

The cabinet of Saudi had said that its nuclear program will be in “full compliance with the principle of transparency” and will also meet the nuclear safety standards “in accordance with an independent regulatory and supervisory framework.”

The officials and analysts said the country plans to build 16 nuclear reactors over the next two decades at a cost of $80 billion. The Energy Minister of Saudi, Khaled al-Faleh, had said in October that the nuclear program will start by building two reactors, each producing 1.2 to 1.6 gigawatts of energy.