As the deadline for an international nuclear deal with Iran nears, Saudi Arabia has reportedly reached out to Pakistan to acquire "off-the-shelf" nuclear weapons of its own.
"For the Saudis the moment has come," a former U.S. defense official told The Sunday Times. "There has been a longstanding agreement in place with the Pakistanis, and the House of Saud has now made the strategic decision to move forward."
The Gulf state is believed to have financed much of Pakistan's nuclear program over the past three decades, as well as provided billions of dollars in subsidized oil. In exchange, the Saudis expect Pakistan to provide atomic weapons in times of trouble, according to the Times.
"Nuclear weapons programs are extremely expensive and there's no question that a lot of the funding of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program was provided by Saudi Arabia," Lord David Owen, who served as England's foreign secretary from 1977-1979, told the Times.
"Given their close relations and close military links, it's long been assumed that if the Saudis wanted, they would call in a commitment, moral or otherwise, for Pakistan to supply them immediately with nuclear warheads."
The Saudis, who practice Sunni Islam, think the nuclear deal being negotiated between the P5+1 nations and their arch enemy Iran, who practices Shiite Islam, will actually accelerate Iran's nuclear program and lead to it developing a nuclear weapon. International negotiators are expected to reach a final accord with Iran by June 30, which would lift sanctions on Tehran in exchange for limitations imposed on its nuclear program. Therefore, Saudi Arabia is asking Pakistan to fulfill its end of the alleged agreement so it can protect itself from Iran.
Weapons haven't actually been transferred to Saudi Arabia yet, according to the report, but "the Saudis mean what they say and they will do what they say," the source told the Times.
The deal worries U.S. and European officials, who fear that Saudi Arabia's acquisition of nuclear weapons could spark an all-out arms race in the Middle East, particularly in Turkey and Egypt, according to one anonymous British official.
