No war with Iran, says Saudi deputy crown prince

The deputy crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Bin Salman said that his country would not allow rising tensions to escalate into war with Iran.

In an interview with The Economist published on Wednesday, the deputy crown prince - also the Saudi minister of defence - said that war between Iran and Saudi Arabia would be catastrophic for the region.

"It is something that we do not foresee at all, and whoever is pushing towards that is somebody who is not in their right mind," said the prince. "For sure we will not allow any such thing."

The deputy crown prince said that cutting diplomatic relations with Iran was to prevent "real conflict" after Iran failed to protect Saudi diplomatic missions.

"Imagine if any Saudi diplomat, or one of their families or children are attacked in Iran. Iran's position then will be much more difficult," he said.

"If a child, or a diplomat, or their families are attacked, what could happen? Then we will have the real conflict and the real escalation."

The crown prince defended his country's decision to execute 47 prisoners who were charged with terrorism offences, including prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

It was the largest mass execution carried out by the Kingdom since 1980.

The executions, which were carried out after trials that were described by human right groups as "unfair" sparked an international outcry.

However, in Shia-majority countries such as Iraq, Bahrain and Iran, large demonstrations filled the streets to condemn the death of Nimr, a popular religious figure held in high esteem.

Demonstrators stormed the Saudi consulates in the Iranian city of Mashhad and the capital Tehran, to which Saudi retaliated with cutting off diplomatic and commercial ties.

The UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, Qatar, Kuwait and other nations followed suit by recalling their ambassadors from Iran.