Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal said on Monday that Saudi Arabia would demand the same terms as Iran would get in the nuclear deal struck between Iran, the United States, and other world powers, Israel Hayom reports. This could lead to wider proliferation of nuclear technology.
"I've always said whatever comes out of these talks, we will want the same," Faisal told the BBC. Faisal, a brother of Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, has previously served as head of Saudi intelligence and as Riyadh's ambassador to Washington and London. Although he is no longer a government official, his comments are widely understood to reflect the thinking at senior levels of the al-Saud ruling family.
Saudi Arabia sees Iran as its main regional rival and fears that an atomic deal would leave the door open to Tehran gaining a nuclear weapon, or would ease political pressure on it, giving it more space to back Arab proxies opposed by Riyadh.
"If Iran has the ability to enrich uranium to whatever level, it's not just Saudi Arabia that's going to ask for that," the prince was quoted as saying by the BBC. "The whole world will be an open door to go that route without any inhibition, and that's my main objection to this P5+1 process."