DUBAI — Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has warned of astronomical oil prices in the event that tensions escalate in the Persian Gulf, two weeks after his country was hit by a drone and cruise missile attack that Riyadh and Washington have blamed on Iran.

"If the world does not take a strong and firm action to deter Iran, we will see further escalations that will threaten world interests," the crown prince said in an interview with the CBS program "60 Minutes" over the weekend.

"Oil supplies will be disrupted and oil prices will jump to unimaginably high numbers that we haven't seen in our lifetimes."

The predawn attack on Sept. 14 hit two of state oil giant Saudi Aramco's largest facilities, forcing the country to temporarily shut down roughly 50% of its output, or more than 5% of the world's daily crude production. The following Monday, international benchmark Brent crude rose as much as 19.5% to $71.95 per barrel at the open ⁠— the biggest jump on record ⁠— before paring gains.

The Middle East "represents about 30% of the world's energy supplies, about 20% of global trade passages, about 4% of the world GDP," the crown prince, who is next in line for the Saudi throne and considered the kingdom's de facto ruler, told CBS.

"Imagine all of these three things stop. This means a total collapse of the global economy, and not just Saudi Arabia or the Middle East countries."

Energy industry experts have cited figures between $100 and $150 per barrel for the price of oil if the adversaries — OPEC's highest and third-highest oil producers, respectively — went to war.

Aramco quickly promised it would restore its oil output to normal by the end of September, and has already brought roughly 50% of that back online, company executives said. Two weeks later, Brent was trading at $61.48 Monday morning London time.