La rumeur du jour : Saudis ‘to get nuclear weapons’
▻http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/world_news/Middle_East/article1557090.ece?CMP=OTH-gnws-standard-2015_05_17
SAUDI ARABIA has taken the “strategic decision” to acquire “off-the-shelf” 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.
En réalité, c’est une vieille histoire, bien antérieure à l’accord sur le nucléaire iranien, dont on trouve des traces en septembre 2003 : Saudis consider nuclear bomb
▻http://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/sep/18/nuclear.saudiarabia
Until now, the assumption in Washington was that Saudi Arabia was content to remain under the US nuclear umbrella. But the relationship between Saudi Arabia and the US has steadily worsened since the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington: 15 of the 19 attackers were Saudi.
It is not known whether Saudi Arabia has taken a decision on any of the three options. But the fact that it is prepared to contemplate the nuclear option is a worrying development.
United Nations officials and nuclear arms analysts said the Saudi review reflected profound insecurities generated by the volatility in the Middle East, Riyadh’s estrangement with Washington and the weakening of its reliance on the US nuclear umbrella.
They pointed to the Saudi worries about an Iranian prog-ramme and to the absence of any international pressure on Israel, which has an estimated 200 nuclear devices.
En novembre 2013, la bombe était prête à être livrée « dans moins d’un mois » : Saudi Arabia ‘can get nuclear weapons from Pakistan’ (l’article rappelle la déclaration saoudienne de 2009 : si les Iraniens vont trop loin, « we will get nuclear weapons »).
▻http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi-arabia/saudi-arabia-can-get-nuclear-weapons-from-pakistan-1.1252773
Saudi Arabia has invested in Pakistani nuclear weapons projects, and it could obtain atom bombs at will, a BBC Newsnight report said on Thursday citing various sources.
The report said that Saudi Arabia’s quest has often been set in the context of countering Iran’s atomic programme and it is now possible that the country might be able to deploy such devices more quickly than the Islamic republic.
The report, citing a Nato official, said that nuclear weapons made in Pakistan on behalf of Saudi Arabia are now sitting ready for delivery.
It quoted Amos Yadlin, a former head of Israeli military intelligence, as saying last month at a conference in Sweden that if Iran got the bomb, “the Saudis will not wait one month”.
“They already paid for the bomb, they will go to Pakistan and bring what they need to bring,” BBC Newsnight quoted him as saying.
In 2009, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia warned visiting US special envoy to the Middle East Dennis Ross that if Iran crossed the threshold, “we will get nuclear weapons”.
