As Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman recently told CBS’ 60 Minutes, “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.”
Maj. Gen. (ret.) Amos Yadlin, former Chief of Israeli military intelligence – and one of the former Israeli air force pilots who participated in Israel’s airstrike on Iraq’s nuclear program – offers a roadmap for how the U.S. can acknowledge the Saudis’ legitimate energy needs while avoiding a nuclear arms race in the Middle East:
- “Riyadh is concerned that Iran’s successful breakout to the bombwould not only pose an existential threat to the kingdom if Iran should choose to use such weapons, but more generally it would embolden Teheran to become even more subversive in the region - compounding the pre-existing challenges to the stability of the House of Saud.”
- “Therefore, the Saudis seek to position themselves close enough to the bomb in order to deter the Iranians from breaking out by conveying the message that Tehran will derive little if any strategic advantage from going nuclear as Riyadh will soon follow.”
- “Washington cannot afford to accept an unlimited Saudi civilian nuclear program. However, at the same time, Washington would be ill-advised to dismiss Riyadh’s request out of hand; doing so would run the risk of pushing the Saudi nuclear contract into the hands of less responsible actors like Russia or China. That, in turn, would deny Washington critical oversight and leverage necessary to ensure that Riyadh is abiding by its commitments not to pursue nuclear weapons.”