Saudi intelligence chief says Israeli nuclear arsenal is provoking arms race [View All]

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/08/africa/ME_GEN_Bahrain_Saudi_Israel.php

MANAMA, Bahrain: Israel's nuclear arsenal is the largest strategic threat to the Middle East and appears set to trigger a regional arms race, said Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, said here Friday.

"The existing Israeli nuclear capability is the most dangerous strategic threat to Gulf security in the short and medium term," Prince Muqrin told the International Institute of Strategic Studies' conference.

Muqrin said the threat posed by the Israeli nuclear arsenal was driving "some countries in the region to join an arms race."

The arms race could push moderate Middle Eastern states to enter into alliances with existing nuclear powers or start "covert or overt" nuclear arms developments of their own, "aiming at creating a military balance in the region."