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December 14, 2006

* Gulf Arabs signal intent to equal a nuclear Iran
Alarab

* [2006-05-23] Asefi surprised at Saudi remarks
IRIB News

* [2006-04-10] Saudi Arabia may join nuclear club
UPI

* [2006-03-31] Saudi denies working on nukes with Pakistan
Agence France Presse/Yahoo! News

* [2006-03-29] Saudis, with Pakistani help, working on nuclear programme
Agence France Presse/Yahoo! News

* [2006-03-29] Pakistan rejects report on secret nuclear help to Saudi Arabia
Agence France Presse/Yahoo! News

* [2006-03-28] Saudis, with Pakistani help, working on nuclear programme
Yahoo! UK

March 14, 2005

High oil price helps Saudis

Saudi Arabia will take in $164 billion this year at the current price of oil [over $50 a barrel], instead of $131 billion at $40 a barrel.
[Source: Jim McTague, "At Last, an Energy Bill", Barron's (Chicopee MA), March 14, 2005, p. 28]

February 26, 2004

Saudis have not pursued n-weapons, sez research institute official

Dr. Khaled Al-Eissa, deputy director of the Institute of Atomic Energy Research (IAER) at King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), said that Saudi Arabia has never sought to possess nuclear weapons. The Kingdom's nuclear program, he said, has mainly focused on applied nuclear research for industrial and health purposes.

[Source: M. Ghazanfar Ali Khan (Arab News), "'Kingdom Has No Plans to Develop N-Technology'", Arab News (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia), February 26, 2004]

October 23, 2003

Did Saudi Arabia buy an n-weapon this week from Pakistan?

Rumors of Saudi desire to obtain nuclear capability have circulated for at least a decade, and recent news of Iran's apparent nuclear weapons program have done nothing but stir the rumor pot. The senior intelligence officer in Israel's Defense Force, Gen. Aharon Zeevi, was cited in press reports this week as noting that Iran (with a a Shi'ite Muslim majority) is Saudi Arabia's (predominantly Sunni Muslim) strategic and religious rival in the region Gen. Zeevi reportedly told a committee in Parliament Tuesday that Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz had gone to Islamabad this weekend with the intention of buying Pakistani nuclear warheads, to be placed on Saudi land-based missiles. The Washington Times cited a Pakistani source as reporting that a deal had been concluded, with some kind of nuclear deterrent exchanged for discounted Saudi oil.

Some suspect that Saudis helped finance Pakistan's nuclear weapons program over the years, enabling purchase of equipment from China and other sources. Others note that Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have both viewed growing military ties between India and Israel with grave concern. Last summer, Saudi defense officials reportedly disclosed a high-level strategic document which included nuclear weapon capability as an option to be considered.

Conventional public wisdom amongst the various international relations communities appears to be that it is unlikely that Saudi Arabia or Pakistan would find it in their national interest to engage in the type of proliferation being suggested. David Albright, a former U.N. weapons inspector and president of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security, puts it like this: "We know that senior Saudi officials are studying their options and sending signals, but to actually go through with this will bring down the wrath of the Americans on the Pakistanis and have huge negative implications for Saudi security as well."