His comments on Iran also suggested that he would seek further cooperation with the United States in combating Iranian influence in the Middle East, a goal he shares with the Trump administration.
In the interview, Prince Mohammed, 32, played down Iran’s power, saying its army was not well ranked in the Muslim world and that Saudi Arabia had a larger economy.
Credit
Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader, via Associated Press
“Iran is far from being equal to Saudi Arabia,” he said, speaking through a translator.
When asked about his previous comments comparing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, to Hitler, he replied, “Absolutely.”
“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.”
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He was then asked whether Saudi Arabia sought nuclear weapons to counter Iran.
“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,” he said.
Saudi officials grew furious with the Obama administration for its push with other world powers to reach an agreement placing limits on Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
Like Israeli leaders and many Republicans in the United States, they claimed that the agreement would merely delay Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons, while ignoring Iran’s other activities, like supporting Shiite militias.
Iran has insisted that its nuclear program was peaceful and intended to produce only energy and research, not weapons.
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Saudi Arabia has not been known to seek nuclear weapons, but its cabinet this week approved a policy for a new atomic energy program.
The new policy stated that “all nuclear activities will be restricted to peaceful purposes, within the framework defined by international legislations, treaties and conventions,” according to a statement released by the government on Wednesday. It remained unclear when work on the new program would begin.
The “60 Minutes” interview with Prince Mohammed will be broadcast on Sunday.
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