Washington: Did we think Saudi Arabia is just not interested in running the nuclear rate race? Did we never count them as a ‘contender’? Well, let’s pause and rethink.
Saudi Arabia is no longer a stranger to the nuclear race, as it has been suspected to have financially supported Pakistan’s nuclear program under an arrangement that would provide Saudi with access to atomic bombs if its existence is threatened.
An unnamed US official threw some light by affirming that Riyadh may be moving ahead with procuring bombs from Islamabad, purportedly because the Saudi royalty that rules Sunni-majority Arabia is angry with the Obama administration’s impending nuclear deal with its Shia rival Iran.
“Hundreds of people at (CIA headquarters) Langley” were working to establish whether Islamabad had already supplied the Gulf nation with nuclear technology or weaponry, a U.S intelligence officer said, adding, “We know this stuff is available to them off the shelf,” and that it “has to be the assumption” that the Saudis have decided to become a nuclear power.â€
Saudi officials have already indicated that U.S overture to Iran, a mutual long-term rival, is pushing them further down the nuclear weapons path. Former Saudi intelligence chief Prince Turki bin Faisal told a recent conference in South Korea that “whatever the Iranians have, we will have, too,” and other remarks by the Saudis and their protectorate states have indicated they are agitated by the Obama overtures towards Iran, a regional and sectarian rival.
“For the Saudis the moment has come,” a former US defence official said, adding, “There has been a long-standing agreement in place with the Pakistanis and the House of Saud has now made the strategic decision to move forward.”
On the other side, Pakistan typically denies any such transaction, but given its history of lying about everything from nuclear proliferation to terrorism, it has no credibility in the international community including in the “Muslim ummah.”
Saudi Arabia practically owns Pakistan, many of whose leading political lights seek refuge with their Saudi patrons when the going gets tough at home.
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