A senior member of Saudi Arabia’s royal family said on Wednesday that Gulf States should work on acquiring nuclear know-how to balance any threat from Iran, Reuters reported on Wed Apr 23.
Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former intelligence chief, also told a security conference in the Bahraini capital Manama, that the Gulf states should be prepared for any possible outcome from Iran’s nuclear talks with world powers.
“We do not hold any hostility to Iran and do not wish any harm to it or to its people, who are Muslim neighbors,” he said in a speech.
“But preserving our regional security requires that we, as a Gulf grouping, work to create a real balance of forces with it, including in nuclear know-how, and to be ready for any possibility in relation to the Iranian nuclear file.
Any violation of this balance will allow the Iranian leadership to exploit all holes to do harm to us.”
The Saudi prince said that Gulf Arab states were concerned by Iran’s nuclear ambitions despite the talks and by what he described as its meddling in the internal affairs of its Gulf Arab neighbors.
Gulf Arab countries have long accused Tehran of fueling unrest mainly among Shi’ite communities in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Yemen. “The lack of trust in the Iranian leadership which arises from its double-talk and the duality of its policies prevents us from believing what it says,” he told the Bahrain conference.