RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia will develop nuclear weapons if its
arch-rival Iran does so, the kingdom’s crown prince said in remarks
released on Thursday, raising the prospect of a nuclear arms race in a
region already riven with conflict.
“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,” Prince Mohammed bin Salman told CBS in an
interview that will air in full on Sunday.
The Sunni
Muslim kingdom has been at loggerheads with revolutionary Shi’ite Iran
for decades. The countries have fought a long-running proxy war in the
Middle East and beyond, backing rival sides in armed conflicts and
political crises including in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen.
Prince
Mohammed, who also serves as Saudi defence minister, said last year
that the kingdom would make sure any future struggle between the two
countries “is waged in Iran”, prompting Iranian threats to hit back at
most of Saudi Arabia except the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
Riyadh
has criticised the 2015 deal between world powers and Tehran under
which economic sanctions on Iran were lifted in return for the Islamic
Republic curbing its nuclear energy programme. U.S. sanctions will
resume unless President Donald Trump issues fresh “waivers” to suspend
them on May 12.
The comments by Prince Mohammed, who at
32 is heir to the throne, also have implications for Israel, another
U.S. ally which neither confirms nor denies the widespread assumption
that it controls the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal.
Israel
has long argued that, should Iran develop nuclear weapons, it would
trigger similar projects among the Persian power’s Arab rivals and
further destabilise the region.
It has never joined the
1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and has said it would
consider inspections and controls under the NPT only if was at peace
with its Arab neighbours and Iran.
CIVILIAN PROGRAMME
Saudi
Arabia is stepping up plans to develop a civilian nuclear energy
capability as part of a reform plan led by Prince Mohammed to reduce the
economy’s dependence on oil.
The world’s top oil
exporter has previously said it wants nuclear technology only for
peaceful uses but has left unclear whether it also wants to enrich
uranium to produce nuclear fuel, a process which can also be used in the
production of atomic weapons.
The United States, South
Korea, Russia, France and China are bidding on a multi-billion dollar
tender to build the country’s first two nuclear reactors.
Prince
Mohammed’s comments, ahead of a trip to the United States next week,
could impact the bid by a consortium that includes Toshiba-owned
Westinghouse.
U.S. companies can usually transfer
nuclear technology to another country only if the United States has
signed an agreement with that country ruling out domestic uranium
enrichment and the preprocessing of spent nuclear fuel — steps that can
have military uses.
In previous talks, Saudi
Arabia has refused to sign up to any agreement that would deprive it of
the possibility of one day enriching uranium.
Reactors
need uranium enriched to around five percent purity but the same
technology in this process can also be used to enrich the heavy metal to
a higher, weapons-grade level. This has been at the heart of Western
and regional concerns over the nuclear work of Iran, Saudi Arabia’s
arch-rival which enriches uranium domestically.
Riyadh
approved a national policy for its atomic energy programme on Tuesday,
including limiting all nuclear activities to peaceful purposes, within
the limits defined by international treaties.
Reporting By Stephen Kalin, Editing by Hugh Lawson and William Maclean
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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