Back in October, we asked the following: “Did Obama Just Set Off A Global Nuclear Arms Race By Signing The Iran Deal?”
On the surface that seems like an oxymoronic headline. After all, the nuclear accord is supposed to be about curbing nuclear proliferation, not setting off an arms race.
Unfortunately, one of the frightening ironies of the deal is that it’s causing some states to reconsider commitments they made to the US with regard to nuclear weapons development. “In barely noticed testimony last month, Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the UAE’s ambassador in Washington, Yousef al-Otaiba, had informed him in a telephone call that the country no longer felt bound by its previous nuclear agreement with the United States,” AP reported last autumn.
“He told me, ‘Your worst enemy has achieved this right to enrich. It’s a right to enrich now that your friends are going to want, too, and we won’t be the only country,'” Royce said in a phone interview.
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On Sunday, in the latest sign that the crowning achievement of Obama’s presidency is about to backfire in dramatic fashion, Israeli defense minister Moshe Ya’alon claimed Sunni Arab nations are moving ahead with plans to aquire nuclear weapons. “We see signs that countries in the Arab world are preparing to acquire nuclear weapons, that they are not willing to sit quietly with Iran on brink of a nuclear or atomic bomb,” he said, after meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah.
And he didn’t stop there. “If at a certain stage they feel confident, particularly economically, they are liable to make a break for the bomb,” Ya’alon claimed, referencing Iran’s windfall crude profits. “15 years is just around the corner,” he warned, a reminder to the world that the deal to limit Iran’s nuclear enrichment has an expiration date.
“He did not specify which Arab nations were making nuclear preparations but Saudi Arabia, the leader of the Sunni states, is considered the most likely candidate [as] its vast oil wealth could help fund a nuclear programme while its ties with Pakistan, a nuclear power, could provide technical expertise,” The Telegraph adds. “The United Arab Emirates (UAE) also has oil money and is already building a civilian nuclear power programme, though there is no evidence it is moving to develop weapons.”ow is that both Israel and Saudi Arabia felt a deep sense of betrayal when Obama signed on the dotted line and shook hands with Iran.
Full article: Obama Starts Mid-East Nuke Race As Israel Says Gulf States Pursuing Bombs (Zero Hedge)
Global Geopolitics 