Jerusalem: As Iran moves ahead with its
nuclear ambition, other countries in the region, including
Saudi Arabia, seek to obtain the atomic technology to keep
"other options open" if Tehran were to develop a bomb, a news
report has said.
With the world seemingly unable to stop Iran's nuclear
march, other countries in the Middle East are now pushing
forward with their own plans to go nuclear.
The US inked civil nuclear power deals with Saudi
Arabia and the United Arab Emirates last year. The Saudi
newspaper Al Watan reported last week that the Saudi Minister
of Water and Electricity, Abdullah al-Hosain, said the kingdom
was working on plans for its first nuclear power plant.
Israeli defence officials said that Saudi interest in
nuclear power was connected to Tehran's race toward nuclear
power, according to a report in the Jerusalem Post newspaper.
"The Saudis are genuinely scared of what will happen
if Iran turns nuclear," one official said. "This is part of
their response," he was quoted as saying by the Israeli daily.
Over the last two years, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain,
Oman, Kuwait, the UAE, Yemen, Morocco, Libya, Jordan and Egypt
have all indicated an interest in developing nuclear
programmes, the report said.
If these countries did not want the programmes now for
their military capabilities, they wanted the technology in
place to keep "other options open" if Iran were to develop a
bomb, unnamed Israeli officials were quoted as saying by the
Israeli newspaper.
On the other hand, the officials said that Saudi
Arabia's nuclear programme was not of concern at the moment
for Israel since the project was being established in
collaboration with the United States and within the framework
of the global nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic
Energy Agency.
Israeli experts have warned for several years that one
potential outcome of Iran establishing a nuclear programme
would be that other countries in the Middle East would follow
suit, the report said.
However, Israel has been careful not to take a public
stand on civilian nuclear programmes in its neighbourhood as
it would help to bring back the focus on Israel's own unique
situation of possessing the technology, but not having signed
the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Bureau Report