Saudi Crown Prince slams ‘harmful’ Iran for sheltering Osama bin Laden’s son

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s highly-anticipated interview on CBS’s 60 minutes aired on Sunday night in which the young royal spoke on a wide-range of topics, including the link between al-Qaeda and Iran.

The television interview, the first in which he is addressing an American audience, was broadcast two days before the crown prince’s meeting with US President Donald Trump in Washington.

Co-host of CBS This Morning Norah O'Donnell bagged the exclusive interview, in which the crown prince said the son of former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is being supported by Iran.

"Unfortunately, Iran is playing a harmful role. The Iranian regime is based on pure ideology. Many of the Al-Qaeda operatives are protected in Iran and it refuses to surrender them to justice, and continues to refuse to extradite them to the United States. This includes the son of Osama bin Laden, the new leader of Al-Qaeda. He lives in Iran and works out of Iran. He is supported by Iran," Prince Mohammed said.

He also said that Saudi Arabia would build its own nuclear capabilities "immediately" if Iran develops a bomb.

In a preview of the interview posted by CBS online a week before the full sit-down aired, the crown prince also likened Iran's supreme leader to Adolf Hitler during the rise of Nazi Germany.

“Because he wants to expand. He wants to create his own project in the Middle East very much like Hitler who wanted to expand at the time. 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,” he told O'Donnell.