Saudis set to buy off-the-shelf nukes

There is a widespread belief in the Middle East that there is an American-Iranian stitchup against Sunni interests.

Saudi Arabia has taken the ‘‘strategic decision’’ to acquire ‘‘off-theshelf’’ atomic weapons from Pakistan, risking a new arms race in the Middle East, according to senior American officials.

The move by the Gulf kingdom, which has financed much of Islamabad’s nuclear programme over the past three decades, comes amid growing anger among Sunni Arab states over a deal backed by President Barack Obama, which they fear could allow their arch foe, Shi’ite Iran, to develop a nuclear bomb.

The agreement, which is due to be finalised by the end of next month and involves the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany, is designed to roll back part of Tehran’s nuclear programme in return for an easing of UN sanctions. There are concerns that Saudi Arabia joining the nuclear club might provoke Turkey and Egypt to follow suit.

‘‘For the Saudis the moment has come,’’ a former American defence official said last week.

‘‘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.’’

While the official did not believe ‘‘any actual weaponry has been transferred yet’’, it was clear ‘‘the Saudis mean what they say and they will do what they say’’, following last month’s Iranian nuclear deal outline. His assessment was echoed by a United States intelligence official who said ‘‘hundreds of people at Langley’’, the CIA’s headquarters, were working to establish whether or not Pakistan had already supplied nuclear technology or even weaponry to Saudi Arabia.

‘‘We know this stuff is available to them off the shelf,’’ the intelligence official said. Asked whether the Saudis had decided to become a nuclear power, the official said: ‘‘That has to be the assumption.’’

Prince Turki bin Faisal, the former Saudi intelligence chief and ambassador to London and Washington, declared bluntly last month: ‘‘Whatever the Iranians have, we will have, too.’’

News of Riyadh’s step came as Obama ended a summit at Camp David with the oil-rich Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates at which Iran’s nuclear role was centre stage.

Saudi Arabia has long been suspected of helping to fund Pakistan’s clandestine nuclear programme. Saudi defence ministers have been secretly allowed into highly sensitive nuclear facilities – a privilege not even accorded to Pakistan’s own prime ministers.

In return for the unofficial nuclear arrangement, the Saudis have provided Pakistan with billions of dollars of subsidised oil. Pakistan has sold its Shaheen mobile ballistic missiles to the Saudis. These can carry nuclear warheads, which Pakistan can also supply.

‘‘Nuclear weapons programmes are extremely expensive and there’s no question that a lot of the funding of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme was provided by Saudi Arabia,’’ said Lord Owen, Britain’s foreign secretary from 1977-79, who has long urged a reduction in nuclear weapons.

‘‘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,’’ he added.

The prospect of a nuclear deal with Iran that would leave in place 5000 centrifuges and a research capability has pushed the Saudis to call in the favour from Pakistan.

‘‘There is a widespread belief in the Middle East that there is an American-Iranian stitchup against Sunni interests,’’ said Sir John Jenkins, Britain’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia until earlier this year. ‘‘For the last two or three years I started hearing people in Saudi talking of themselves as the regional superpower. The problem is they are 20 million compared to 80 million Iranians.’’

A senior British military official warned that if Saudi Arabia pushed ahead, its neighbours would also want nuclear weapons as a bulwark against a newly assertive Iran.

‘‘We [the Western military leadership] all assume the Saudis have made the decision to go nuclear. Some think they already have the whole thing set up, others that it’s just a strategic decision and the Pakistanis will provide as necessary,’’ the military official said.

‘‘The fear is that other Middle Eastern powers – Turkey and Egypt – may feel compelled to do the same and we will see a new, even more dangerous, arms race.’’

Lieutenant-General Khalid Kidwai, adviser on Pakistan’s nuclear programme, insisted during a recent visit to London that Pakistan had never sent nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia or any other country.

Sir John Jenkins, former British ambassador to Saudi Arabia