Iran war would collapse global economy: Saudi crown prince

Bloomberg

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman warned that war between his country and Iran would lead to a “total collapse of the global economy” and should be avoided.
In comments that echo clear signals from the Trump administration that it doesn’t want to resort to conflict to punish Iran for disputed attacks on Saudi oil facilities, the prince said a “political and peaceful solution is much better than military one.”
“Oil prices will jump to unimaginably high numbers that we haven’t seen in our lifetimes,” he said of any war. Still, the world needed to take “strong and firm action to deter Iran” or see further escalations, the prince said in an interview for CBS’s “60 Minutes.”
The US, Saudi Arabia and major European nations have all blamed Iran for the September 14 aerial attacks on two Saudi oil installations, which knocked out almost 5% of global supply.
But after weighing their possible responses, President Donald Trump opted first to tighten sanctions on Tehran, while the UK, Germany and France have pushed for talks with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
“If Iran stops its support of the Houthi militia, the political solution will be much easier,” the prince said. “Today we open all initiatives for a political solution in Yemen.”
The oil facility attacks were motivated by “stupidity,” the prince said. “There is no strategic goal. Only a fool would
attack 5% of global supplies.”
He said he’s in favour of Trump and Rouhani holding face-to-face talks. Trump — who won the White House vowing to remove the US from wars overseas and faces re-election next year — had talked up the possibility of meeting Rouhani until the attack on Saudi oil fields.

The oil facility attacks were motivated by “stupidity,” the prince said. “There is no strategic goal. Only a fool would attack 5% of global supplies.”
Iran has repeatedly said it won’t negotiate with the U.S until it returns to the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal that Trump existed last year and lifts all sanctions.
The war in Yemen has killed thousands and triggered one the world’s worst humanitarian disasters since Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates intervened in 2015 to restore an allied government ousted by the Houthis.
The UAE has signaled it will pull its forces from the conflict by the end of the year as the war threatened to ignite a catastrophic wider conflict with Iran. Last week, a Yemeni official said the Saudis had agreed a partial cease-fire.