NEW YORK, April 15: Iran's ascendancy in the Middle East as a nuclear power has alarmed the Sunni Arab states in the region who are now aspiring to acquire nuclear technology which could ignite a nuclear arms race in which Sunni Arab states may turn to the “nuclear armed Pakistan” for help, The New York Times said in a report on Sunday.
In a front-page lead article, the paper observed: “Two years ago, the leaders of Saudi Arabia told international atomic regulators that they could foresee no need for the kingdom to develop nuclear power. Today, they are scrambling to hire atomic contractors, buy nuclear hardware and build support for a regional system of reactors.”
“But with Shia Iran increasingly ascendant in the region, Sunni countries have alluded to other motives. Officials from 21 governments in and around the Middle East warned at a meeting of Arab leaders in March that Iran's drive for atomic technology could result in the beginning of “a grave and destructive nuclear arms race in the region”, the newspaper said.
The Times says: “In Washington, officials are seizing on such developments to build their case for stepping up pressure on Iran. President Bush has talked privately to experts on the Middle East about his fears of a ‘Sunni bomb,’ and his concerns that countries in the Middle East may turn to the only nuclear-armed Sunni state, Pakistan, for help.”
Quoting unnamed diplomats and analysts, the newspaper asserted: “The Sunni Arab governments are so anxious about Iran's nuclear progress that they would even, grudgingly, support a United States military strike against Iran.
“If push comes to shove, if the choice is between an Iranian nuclear bomb and a US military strike, then the Arab gulf states have no choice but to quietly support the US,” Christian Koch, director of international studies at the Gulf Research Center, a private group in Dubai, told the newspaper.
Alluding to Israel's nuclear programme, the newspaper says: “The Middle East has seen hints of a regional nuclear-arms race before.
After Israel obtained its first weapon four decades ago, several countries took steps down the nuclear road. But many analysts say it is Iran's atomic intransigence that has now prodded the Sunni powers into getting serious about hedging their bets and, like Iran, financing them with $65-a-barrel oil.”
The newspaper claimed that Turkey is also preparing for its first atomic plant. And Egypt has announced plans to build one on its Mediterranean coast. In all, roughly a dozen states in the region have recently turned to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna for help in starting their own nuclear programmes. While interest in nuclear energy is rising globally, it is unusually strong in the Middle East.
The Times quoted King Abdullah of Jordan as telling another Israeli newspaper that “the rules have changed, everybody's going for nuclear programmes.”
