Saudi Crown Prince on Iran acquiring nuclear weapons: ‘If they get one, we have to get one’

THE HILL-Sept20th2023

BY SARAH FORTINSKY

Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said on Wednesday that if Iran acquired a nuclear weapon, his country would seek to do the same.

“If they get one, we have to get one,” bin Salman said in an interview with Fox News’s Bret Baier, adding that it would be necessary “for security reasons, and for balancing power in the Middle East, but we don’t want to see that.”

The Crown Prince warned of the dangers of nuclear weapons and said, “We are concerned of any country getting a nuclear weapon,” when asked about Iran in particular.

“That’s a bad, that’s a bad move,” he added.

He suggested trying to get nuclear weapons in general is a fruitless endeavor, since deploying them is equivalent to declaring war on the world.

“Even if Iran get a nuclear weapon, [if] any country use a nuclear weapon that means they are having a war with the rest of the world,” he said. “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.”

On Tuesday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said that the United States must “demonstrate in a verifiable fashion” that it intends to return to the 2015 nuclear deal, from which former President Trump withdrew in 2018.

The Biden administration was in talks with Iran to restart the agreement last year, but discussions fell through and the United States has not indicated an interest in reengaging in discussions.

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https://thehill.com/policy/international/4215594-saudi-crown-prince-on-iran-acquiring-nuclear-weapons-if-they-get-one-we-have-to-get-one/