Saudi Arabia-Pakistan: Nuclear co-operation?


Issue 966 - 24 Mar 2014 | 2 minute read

The flurry of recent Saudi visits to Pakistan has reignited speculation about Saudi Arabia seeking to procure nuclear weapons from Islamabad. The logic is that Saudi anxiety about the West’s rapprochement with Iran and its doubts about US commitment to Riyadh are pushing the Al-Saud towards nuclear arms. But there have been similar rumours since 1999 – the year after Pakistan tested its nuclear warheads in response to tests by India – when the late defence minister Prince Sultan Bin Abdelaziz travelled to Pakistan’s Kahuta Research Laboratories, where he was briefed by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of the Pakistani bomb (GSN 612/7). Over the years, Saudi officials have given several warnings, like that of King Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz, who in 2009 told US Middle East envoy Dennis Ross: “If Iran gets nuclear weapons, we will get nuclear weapons” (GSN 731/1, 713/6).

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