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Saudi minister cannot rule out nuclear arms race

20 February 2023

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Affairs Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud has told a security conference in Germany that he “cannot rule out” a regional nuclear arms race.

The minister said the kingdom was concerned about Iran's nuclear programme and wanted negotiations between Tehran and world powers to resume, according to a report by the UAE daily newspaper the National.

“If one state gets nuclear weapons, especially one that has expressed aggression towards its neighbours, I think everyone will start thinking about how to protect themselves," Prince Faisal told the Munich Security Conference.

READ: Prospects fade for revival of Iran nuclear deal

“I hope that never happens. If it is a genie that gets out, it will be very hard to put back into the bottle," the minister said.

“We need to see a return to negotiations, but we need a holistic approach. We think we should be taking part in any future discussions. We feel it might be quite useful that we address this issue with our international partners.

“The GCC states most threatened by a nuclear Iran need to be engaged in those negotiations."

The minister added: "We are concerned that discussions to return to the JCPOA [the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] have effectively stopped and that’s a huge risk to regional instability.”

Prince Faisal was speaking at a panel discussion called Middle Men: the Geo-strategic Role of Middle Eastern Countries at the conference, along with Kuwait Foreign Affairs Minister Salem Abdullah al-Jaber al-Sabah.

Al-Sabah said his country was against nuclear weapons. 

“We are big supporters of a nuclear-free Middle East. We are against any country in the region acquiring nuclear capabilities," Al-Sabah said.

In September, a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) indicated that Iran is pressing ahead with its advanced uranium enrichment programme

According to the report, the first of three cascades, or clusters, of advanced IR-6 centrifuges recently installed at the underground fuel enrichment plant (FEP) at Natanz is now enriching uranium.

The IR-6 is understood to be the most advanced machine compared to the first-generation IR-1, the only model permitted for enrichment use under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) deal.

The report says that Iran has been using IR-6 centrifuges to enrich uranium to up to 60 per cent purity, which is close to weapons grade, at the Natanz site.

Similar activities are alleged to have expanded to another site, particularly at Fordow, a site buried in a mountain.

Ending the IAEA probe into Iran’s past atomic activities is understood to be one of the main issues underpinning the revival of the JCPOA.

In June, Iran started switching off cameras installed by the IAEA at its nuclear plant facilities in response to a report the country was beginning to enrich uranium closer to weapons-grade levels.

IAEA installed around 27 cameras at Iran’s nuclear facilities as part of the 2015 nuclear power deal forged between Tehran and China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK, the US and the EU.

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Jennifer Aguinaldo

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