Mohammed bin Salman warns, war with Iran will 'collapse world economy'

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman warned that a war with Iran could collapse the world economy and that the prices of crude oil could soar to "unimaginably high numbers" in case of a military confrontation. 

Mohammed bin Salman, also known as, MbS to the western world held Iran responsible for the Kingdom oil facility citing it to be their "stupidity" and said that only a "fool" would attack 5% of global supplies. 

Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler told the US-based CBS program 60 Minutes, "The region represents about 30% of the world's energy supplies, about 20% of global trade passages, about 4% of ther world's GDP. Imagine all of these three things stop. This means a total collapse of global economy, and not just Saudi Arabia or the Middle East countries." 

"If the world does not take a strong and firm action to deter Iran, we will see further escalations that will threaten world interests," he added. The drone attack on Saudi Arabia's energy infrastructure halted almost half of the Kingdom's oil production capabilites and affected 5% of the world oil supply.

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While rebel Iran-backed Houthi claimed responsibility for the attack on the Aramco oil facility, Saudi Arabia and ally the United States along with European powers- UK, France and Germany have held Iran responsible for the attack. Tehran has strongly refuted any involvement. 

Iran-US relations 

Despite calling the attack an "act of war," the Crown Prince said that he preferred a peaceful solution to the ongoing conflict instead of a military confrontation with Iran. Mohammed bin Salman further suggested that US President Donald Trump must meet with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani to draft a new nuclear deal. 

During the UN General Assembly that found the Presidents of both Iran and the United States under one roof, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson both could be seen convincing Hassan Rouhani to meet with Trump. 

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"What is important is that if he leaves the country without meeting with President Trump, this is a lost opportunity. Because you will not come back to US and President Trump will not go to Tehran" said Macron, as Johnson agreed with him.

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