WikiLeaks releases embassy cables showing nuclear build-up threat in Middle East

The latest major release of classified U.S. diplomatic cables by the whistleblower site, WikiLeaks underscores the argument we have been making; that the desire for nuclear power development in the Middle East is a covert strategy to develop – or to appear capable of developing – nuclear weapons. According to sources cited in the Financial Times, the sudden and recent interest in nuclear power by Arab states such as the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt is founded less on the need for electricity but more likely intended as “a message to Tehran.” That message was further articulated in a cable from the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh which reported that Saudi Arabian “King Abdullah had warned the Americans that if Iran developed nuclear weapons ‘everyone in the region would do the same, including Saudi Arabia’". The cable also stated that Saudi Ambassador to the US Adel al-Jubeir, "recalled the King's frequent exhortations to the US to attack Iran and so put an end to its nuclear weapons program. 'He told you to cut off the head of the snake,' he recalled to the Chargé [Charge D'Affaires] adding that working with the US to roll back Iranian influence in Iraq is a strategic priority for the King and his government." The US embassy cables can be browsed on a special website set up by The Guardian (UK).