Fearing Shiite Iran is on the verge of becoming a nuclear power, Sunni Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states are warning they will not hesitate to join a rumbling regional arms race, analysts say.The reasons are piling up.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which groups Arab countries in the world's top oil and gas exporting region, said at a summit meeting on Sunday that it has decided to set up a nuclear energy programme for peaceful purposes. The announcement by the six countries — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman — came amid concerns in the West and in the Gulf that non-Arab Iran's nuclear enrichment programme could produce an atomic bomb.