Saudi Arabia would race to develop its own nuclear bomb if Iran was allowed to get one, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has warned ahead of his first official trip to Washington as heir to the throne.

“Saudi Arabia does not want to acquire any nuclear bomb but without a doubt, if Iran developed a nuclear bomb we would follow suit as soon as possible,” the 32-year-old prince told CBS News.

He repeated his accusation that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, was “the new Hitler” in the Middle East.

"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 realise how dangerous Hitler was until what happened happened. I don't want to see the same events happening in the Middle East."