Iran supreme leader is ‘new Hitler’ says Saudi crown prince

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince has called Iran’s supreme leader “the new Hitler of the Middle East” and warned that as in European history, “appeasement doesn’t work”.

In his first comments since a widespread anti-corruption purge Mohammad bin Salman fired his strongest criticism yet of Saudi Arabia’s regional arch-rival.

“We don’t want the new Hitler in Iran to repeat what happened in Europe in the Middle East,” bin Salman, known by his initials MbS, told The New York Times in an interview published on Thursday.

The 32-year-old prince has positioned himself at the forefront of an economic and social upheaval in Saudi Arabia.

But he has been criticised over the human costs of the intervention he has led in Yemen, seen as a proxy for the country’s conflict with Iran.

Oxfam on Saturday claimed that a further eight million people will be without running water due to fuel shortages arising from the Saudi-led blockade on the country’s northern ports.

The coalition has given the United Nations permission to resume flights of aid workers to the Houthi-controlled capital, but not to dock ships loaded with wheat and medical supplies, a UN spokesman said.