Dubai: Saudi Arabia will not allow its tensions with Iran to escalate into a war, the kingdom’s deputy crown prince said.
In an interview with The Economist, Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, who is also the defence minister, said: “It is something that we do not foresee at all, and whoever is pushing towards that is somebody who is not in their right mind.
“Because a war between Saudi Arabia and Iran is the beginning of a major catastrophe in the region, and it will reflect very strongly on the rest of the world. For sure we will not allow any such thing,” he added.
Saudi Arabia severed relations with Iran following an attack on its missions in the Islamic Republic on Sunday after Riyadh executed Shiite religious leader Nimr Al Nimr, who convicted on terrorism charges.
Defending the execution in the interview with the London-based magazine, Prince Mohammad said: “The court did not, at all, make any distinction between whether or not a person is Shiite or Sunni. They are reviewing a crime, and a procedure, and a trial, and a sentence, and carrying out the sentence.”
Tensions
The UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Sudan and Somalia threw their weight behind Saudi Arabia by cutting or downgrading the relations with Tehran.
Tensions continued to rise on Thursday with Iran accusing Saudi Arabia of carrying out an air strike on its embassy in Yemen. But the Saudi-led coalition and Yemen’s foreign ministry denied the allegation.
“The coalition command confirmed that these (Iranian) allegations are false and void, stressing that it does not carry out any operations in the vicinity of the embassy or near it,” a statement on the Saudi news agency SPA said.
In Islamabad. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir briefed Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the situation.
Sharif called for the “resolution of differences through peaceful means in the larger interest of the Muslim unity in this challenging time”.
— With inputs from agencies
