The US Air Force’s air strike, leaving Iranian general Qasem Soleimani killed, showed Tehran that it could not escape the consequences of its provocations, Saudi Arabian Prince Turki Al-Faisal told CNBC.

"The attacks on the oil tankers, culminating in the attack on the Aramco facilities, and there was no response," he said. "This was a sort of a wake-up call to the Iranian government and the Iranian leadership that they can’t get away with it."

However, Al-Faisal said the death of Soleimani would not halt Iran’s agenda.

"It definitely was a very important step," he said. "Whether it would stop further activities by Iran to use the methods that Soleimani was very clever in using — I don’t think so."

"That project is to be the dominant representative, if you like, of all of Islam in the world." Tehran has used "surrogates" such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen to advance its project, he noted. "That is going to continue. Maybe less efficiently than when Soleimani was alive, but inevitably, equally terroristic and, in my view, evil in its intent."

Al-Faisal also touched upon the withdrawal of American troops from the countries of the region. The US should have left Afghanistan at "earlier stages, when it was more feasible than now." When asked whether the American forces should leave Iraq, he said: "Not today."