“We are in a very dangerous space in the region,” said Prince Faisal. “You can expect that regional states will certainly look towards how they can ensure their own security.”
By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister hinted that countries in the Middle East may take action to ensure their safety should Iran obtain a nuclear bomb, saying at a security conference that such as scenario would mean “all bets are off,” Reuters reported Sunday.
Talks brokered by European powers aimed at securing a return to the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the U.S. have been stalled for months, with critics warning that Tehran is continuing to enrich uranium to near nuclear-grade levels as the negotiations drag on.
“If Iran gets an operational nuclear weapon, all bets are off,” Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud was reported by Reuters as saying at the World Policy Conference in Abu Dhabi.
“We are in a very dangerous space in the region,” he added. “You can expect that regional states will certainly look towards how they can ensure their own security.”
Prince Faisal said that while Saudi Arabia would welcome a renewed deal “on [the] condition that it be a starting point, not an end point” towards a deal which would see Iran’s nuclear program seriously curbed, he is “skeptical” about the possibility of that ultimately happening.
“The signs right now are not very positive, unfortunately,” he said.
The Biden administration has long pushed for the resumption of the nuclear agreement, from which former president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew in 2015.
Trump said that Iran was not keeping to its end of the bargain and reimposed crippling economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
Biden’s insistence on extended negotiations aimed at resurrecting the deal have irked Saudi Arabia, along with the administration’s decision to remove the Houthi rebel terror group from the U.S.’s list of designated terror groups.
The Houthis, who are based in southern Yemen, are supported and funded by Iran. They have launched a number of deadly attacks against Saudi Arabian and Emirati oil refineries, including one that occurred when Israeli president Isaac Herzog was visiting Abu Dhabi.
Meanwhile, it appears that Israel and the Saudis are moving closer towards establishing normalization between the two countries. Both countries are deeply concerned about the Iranian nuclear threat.
Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu has said peace with Saudi Arabia would be a priority if elected, and most recently, former ambassador to the UN Danny Danon, who attended the First Annual Abraham Accords Global Leadership Summit in Rome last week, predicted that official ties would be established within a year.