Is The Middle East Now Facing A Period Of Nuclear Proliferation?

Karl Vick, Time: The Middle East Nuclear Race Is Already Underway

While the U.S. and other world powers work to constrain Iran's nuclear program, five rival nations plan atomic programs

One of the most important reasons why the U.S. is trying to conclude a nuclear deal with Iran is to prevent an Iranian bomb from triggering a nuclear race in the Middle East. Yet even as talks continue now in Switzerland, Tehran’s regional rivals have already begun quietly acting on their own atomic ambitions. Nuclear power may be on the wane almost everywhere else in the world, but it’s all the rage in the place with all that oil.

Egypt’s announcement last month that it was hiring Russia to build a reactor near Alexandria made it only the latest entrant in an emerging atomic derby. Every other major Sunni power in the region has announced similar plans. And though none appear either as ambitious nor as ambiguous as what’s taken place in Iran—which set out to master the entire atomic fuel cycle, a red flag for a military program—each announcement lays down a marker in a region that, until recently, was notable as the one place on the planet where governments had made little progress on nuclear power.

WNU Editor: As long as I can remember nuclear proliferation in the Middle East has always been the nightmare scenario that everyone feared .... and now it is becoming a reality.

Update: Mushroom clouds in the Middle East draw closer -- Irish Times

Top Saudi Arabian Official Warns Of Nuclear Proliferation In The Middle East

Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal:

BBC: Iran deal could start nuclear fuel race - Saudi Arabia

A senior member of the Saudi royal family has warned that a deal on Iran's nuclear programme could prompt other regional states to develop atomic fuel.

Prince Turki al-Faisal told the BBC that Saudi Arabia would then seek the same right, as would other nations.

Six world powers are negotiating an agreement aimed at limiting Iran's nuclear activity but not ending it.

Critics have argued this would trigger a nuclear arms race in the region spurred on by Saudi-Iran rivalry.

WNU Editor: This is an ominous warning .... is anyone in the White House listening? Has anyone in the White House contemplate the consequences?

More News On Saudi Warnings Of Nuclear Proliferation In The Middle East

Saudi prince: Iran deal could prompt nuclear fuel race -- Al Arabiya
Saudi Prince Echoes Israel’s Warnings against Nuclear Armed Iran -- Breaking Israel News
Iran’s Nuclear Deal to Cause Instability in Middle East – Saudi Prince -- Sputnik
Saudis: If Iran Gets Nukes, We Want ’Em -- Daily Beast
Saudi prince warns Iran deal risks local arms race -- YNet news

Is The Threat Of Nuclear War Higher Now Than At Any Time In The Past 25 Years?

The Economist: The threat of nuclear war is higher than at any time in the past 25 years

Despite optimistic attempts to rid the world of nuclear weapons, the threat they pose to peace is growing.

IN JANUARY 2007 Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, William Perry and Sam Nunn — two Republican secretaries of state, a Democratic defence secretary and a Democratic head of the Senate Armed Services Committee — called for a global effort to reduce reliance on nuclear weapons.

The ultimate goal, they wrote in the Wall Street Journal, should be to remove the threat such weapons pose completely.

WNU Editor: When it comes to nuclear weapons .... my biggest fear has always been proliferation. For the past 70 years there has been a global push to keep these weapons limited to a few countries .... unfortunately .... I cannot help but feel that the old order is now changing, and some of the more unsavory governments in the world are now looking at these weapon systems as a guarantor of their own national security and rule.

Update: The world is facing a growing threat of nuclear war -- Economist