‘Nobody is going to wait’: Saudi drafting nuclear back- up plan to counter Iran?
Saudi Arabia, growing increasingly nervous
about its neighbor across the Persian Gulf,
may be hedging its bets and crafting a nuclear
back-up plan if a diplomatic deal with Iran
fails to halt the Islamic Republic's alleged
march toward a weapon.
The latest sign is a curious visit on Wednesday
by Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the
day before Secretary of State John Kerry's visit
to the capital Riyadh.
Sharif arrived in Saudi Arabia following a visit
by the Egyptian president on Sunday and
Turkey's president on Monday -- but the
Pakistan PM's House of Saud call might be the
most significant of the three, considering
Pakistan is seen by some analysts as Saudi
Arabia's future nuclear tech supplier, should
the Kingdom take that leap.
"The visit by the PM ... almost certainly has to
be seen in the context of Saudi Arabia looking
to Pakistan for nuclear cooperation to counter
Iran's emerging status," Simon Henderson, of
the Washington Institute, told Fox News.
Henderson, in an essay for the Washington
Institute last month, also noted Riyadh's
support for Pakistan's nuclear program,
"providing financing in return for a widely
assumed understanding that, if needed,
Islamabad will transfer technology or even
warheads."
