Press TV - Saudi�Arabia's�Crown Prince�Mohammad bin Salman (MbS) has warned that a war with Iran would entail a �total collapse of the global economy,� calling for a �peaceful� settlement with Tehran in an apparent break with his trademark bellicose rhetoric.
Speaking during an interview with CBS News aired on Sunday, bin Salman said a �political and peaceful solution is much better than the military one� in�tensions with Tehran.
�The region represents about 30% of the world's energy supplies, about 20% of global trade passages, about 4% of the world GDP. Imagine all of these three things stop,� the crown prince said.
Bin Salman urged the �world� to act on easing�tensions, saying further escalations in the region could push oil prices to �unimaginably high numbers that we haven't seen in our lifetimes.�
Anwar Gargash, minister of state for foreign affairs�of the United Arab Emirates,�made similar remarks in an op-ed published by the Financial Times on Sunday.
Gargash, whose country is a close Saudi ally, called for talks with Iran in a bid to decrease tensions and "reduce the potential for miscalculations, missteps and retaliation on all sides".
Bin Salman�s comments, along with those of Gargash, represent a stark break with their�provocative rhetoric in the past against Iran.
In May 2017, the Saudi crown prince accused Tehran of attempting to dominate the Muslim world and�pledged to take the war �inside Iran.�
Saudi Arabia has since been a main backer of Washington�s campaign of �maximum pressure� against Tehran, pledging to ramp up�its oil output to weaken Iran and strengthening ties with various anti-Iran groups.
Political solution in Yemen
In his interview with CBS News, the crown prince also signaled a withdrawal from his ambitions in Yemen, expressing interest in a �political solution� and welcoming a recent Ansarullah peace proposal.
When it launched its invasion of Yemen in 2015, Riyadh looked forward to a decisive victory which would return the pro-Saudi government of former president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi to power and crush�the Ansarullah movement. Four years on, none of those objectives have been achieved.
The Saudi crown prince�s apparent about-face comes two weeks after an attack launched by Yemeni forces inflicted substantial damage on the oil-rich kingdom�s Khurais and Abqaiq oil facilities.
The attacks�effectively shut�down about half of the kingdom�s crude and gas production.
Washington and Riyadh were quick to�blame�Iran for the devastating raid without any evidence, reasoning that they did not expect Yemen to be capable of such a high-profile raid.
On Sunday, Yemeni armed forces announced a major victory against Saudi�troops and their mercenaries on the battlefield, claiming to have inflicted hundreds of casualties on enemy forces�in a war which is increasingly turning into a quagmire�for Riyadh.