The Saudi crown prince invites the international community to take action before oil reaches "unimaginable prices". A crisis in the Middle East endangers the global economy. He finally admitts indirect responsibility in the Khashoggi murder, but denies being the instigator.
Riyadh (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The price of oil is destined to grow until it reaches "unimaginable prices", if the world does not act to take a deterrent action against Iran says Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (Mbs).
He adds that a possible conflict between Riyadh and Tehran would end up "ruining" the global economy. For this reason, after the warning, he added that he preferred the political solution over the military option.
The response of the Wahhabi kingdom come two weeks after the twin attack on oil refineries which Riyadh (and the United States) believes were planned by Tehran. The Houthi rebels, who are fighting against the Saudi-led Arab coalition in neighboring Yemen, have since claimed responsibility.
In an interview with CBSNews' "60 Minutes" program, the de facto leader of the Saudi monarchy therefore admitted some responsibility in the murder of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which took place last October inside the consulate in Istanbul. The crime, he explained, took place "under my watch"; however, he strongly denied any personal involvement or having commissioned it.
In reference to the assassination, Mbs said he "assumed full responsibility, as leader of Saudi Arabia, especially given that [the murder] was committed by people working for the Saudi government". However, he denied being the instigator or aware of it at the time the facts occurred.
Returning to the oil issue, Riyadh reports that 18 drones and seven cruise missiles were launched against the Abqaiq and Khurais refineries. Tehran has denied any involvement in the attacks. T
he Saudi crown prince explained that the Middle Eastern region "represents 30% of world energy supplies, about 20% of goods traffic and 4% of world GDP". "Imagine - he added - that all this stops. This means a total collapse of the global economy, not only of Saudi Arabia or the countries of the Middle East ".
Commenting on the attacks on oil wells, US President Donald Trump [allied with the Saudis] stressed that Washington has "many options" in response, including the "final" one. However, he concluded by saying that he preferred a peaceful solution: "The political and peaceful solution - he said - is much better than any military option".