Saudi Arabia would seek to develop a nuclear weapon if its rival Iran was able to acquire or build one, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said.
The crown prince's comments about a possible Saudi nuclear program came during a wide-ranging interview on Fox News that aired on Wednesday, in which he also characterized Saudi Arabia's current negotiations on a normalization deal with Israel as improving daily.
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“Well, we are concerned [about] any country getting a nuclear weapon. That’s a bad move,” the crown prince said. “You don’t need to get a nuclear weapon because you can’t use it even if you can get a nuclear weapon. Even if Iran gets a nuclear weapon, any country [to] use a nuclear weapon, that means they are having a war with the rest of the world. The world cannot see another Hiroshima. If the world sees 100,000 people dead, that means you are in a war with the rest of the world."
“If they get one, we have to get one,” he warned.
President Joe Biden is attempting to broker an agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia that would include concessions to benefit the Palestinian people, a deal that, if reached, would be a historic and seismic shift in the region.
“Every day we get closer,” the crown prince said about a possible deal, though he emphasized concessions given to the Palestinians.
“For us, the Palestinian issue is very important," the crown prince explained. "We need to solve that part, and we have good negotiations continue till now. We got to see where we go. We hope that will reach a place that will ease the life of the Palestinians and get Israel as a player in the Middle East.”
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Last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said an agreement between the two would be "a transformative event in the Middle East and well beyond."
Biden met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday on the sidelines of the 78th U.N. General Assembly in New York City.