FILE PHOTO: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia October 24, 2017. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo

ANKARA (Reuters) - Iran said on Thursday that Saudi Arabia’s crown prince was discredited internationally by his “immature” behavior, state television reported, after Mohammed bin Salman called Iran’s Supreme Leader “the new Hitler of the Middle East”.

“No one in the world and in the international arena gives credit to him because of his immature and weak-minded behavior and remarks,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi was quoted as saying.

“Now that he has decided to follow the path of famous regional dictators ... he should think about their fate as well.”

Escalating the war of words between the Middle East rivals, Salman described Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the region’s “new Hitler” in an interview with the New York Times published on Thursday.