Promising Tit-For-Tat, Saudi Arabia Says It Will Acquire Nuclear Weapons If Iran Gets Them
Saudi Arabia's crown prince has warned that his country will develop its own nuclear arsenal if rival Iran acquires one.
In an interview to CBS Television, U.S. Saudi Arabia’s crown prince has explicitly stated that Riyadh will do its all to acquire nuclear weapons in the event that Tehran does so. Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman’s statements come a week before he is scheduled to visit Washington DC to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump.
On the crown prince’s agenda is discussion on contracting American technology for the two nuclear stations Saudi Arabia plans to build as part of its medium-term programme to wean itself off oil. It plans to build 16 civil nuclear stations over 20 to 25 years generating 16 gigawats of nuclear energy. Reportedly, Riyadh is pressing the U.S. to give it the reserved right to enrich uranium in return for Saudi Arabia choosing American nuclear technology. This process can be used in the production of atomic weapons.
“Saudi Arabia does not want to acquire any nuclear bomb, but without a doubt, if Iran developed a nuclear bomb, we will follow suit as soon as possible,” bin Salman told CBS television.
Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is heir to the throne and also the Saudi defence minister, made the statement in an interview with CBS's 60 Minutes programme. He also explained why, in November, he called Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei "the new Hitler of the Middle East".
"He wants to create his own project in the Middle East, very much like Hitler who wanted to expand at the time," the crown prince said. "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."
Riyadh approved a national policy for its atomic energy program on Tuesday, including limiting all nuclear activities to peaceful purposes, within the limits defined by international treaties.
In light of Saudi Arabia's comments, the spokesman of Iran's Foreign Ministry says Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman is a “delusional naive person,” who has no idea of politics apart from bitter talk that emanates from lack of foresight. Bahram Qassemi made the comments on Thursday as Saudi Arabia's statements made headlines around the world.
Saudi Arabia is fiercely critical of Iran’s nuclear deal with U.S. and UK, France and Germany, which allows Iran to retain enriched uranium of 3.67 percent. Riyadh has hence been pushing Donald Trump, who himself is a critic of the Iran nuclear deal to scrap it and impose sanctions on Tehran.
Trump has given the EU until May 12 to come up with revisions to the deal, or see him pull out, re-imposing full blown economic sanctions and provoking a crisis with Tehran.
Saudi Arabia’s statements also come in the backdrop of five years of proxy war where Riyadh and Tehran have waged war by supporting opposing groups in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 16, 2018 11:22 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).