Gulf States Join Call for Tougher Action Toward Tehran 
By Hassan M. Fattah
February 1, 2006
The New York Times
Original Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/01/international/middleeast/01arab.html

DUBAI, Jan. 31 — After years of hesitating, Persian Gulf states are joining the call for tougher action on Iran's nuclear efforts, increasingly worried that a nuclear Iran could set off a regional arms race. 
In recent weeks, Saudi officials and other gulf leaders have called for Iran to abandon its nuclear research, without demanding that Israel disarm first.
Separating those two demands is a major policy change, and many experts see the shift as a sign that Iran's Arab neighbors may even back United Nations sanctions against Iran.
For the past couple of years, they have been ambiguous, giving conflicting signals, said Riad Kahwaji, managing director of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis in Dubai. Now we're seeing a unified stand. 
If they are asked to vote on this in the U.N., he added, they would not vote in favor of Iran.
During a debate on Jan. 15 on a measure that would refer Iran to the United Nations Security Council, the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, warned that Tehran's nuclear ambitions threaten disaster in the region. 
We are urging Iran to accept the position that we have taken to make the gulf, as part of the Middle East, nuclear free and free of weapons of mass destruction, Prince Saud told The Times of London last month. 
He then voiced support for a new initiative of the Gulf Cooperative Council to ban all nuclear activity in the region. We hope that they will join us in this policy and assure that no new threat of arms race happens in this region, he said.
The statement was the clearest expression yet of the Saudi government's frustration with the inability of European negotiators to prevent Iran from charging forward with its nuclear program. 
While Western nations fear that Iran may ultimately develop nuclear weapons, a direct threat to them and Israel, Persian Gulf states worry that a nuclear Iranian government would feel emboldened to stir up fellow Shiites in neighboring countries, leading to civil unrest. During the 1980's, gulf governments blamed Iranian-sponsored groups and protests for fomenting tensions in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and other gulf states.
If you're a gulf state with a Shia population, you probably feel you're on the front line, said Flynt Leverett, a senior fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. And if you talk to any gulf official, that is the most important security issue on their minds.
The Saudis, especially, have grown wary of Iran's growing influence in Iraq. They also fear that if Iran developed a nuclear bomb, the balance of power in the region would tip away from Saudi Arabia. Other Arab governments in the gulf are wary of even a peaceful nuclear energy program in Iran, partly because of the risks of a meltdown accident. Saudi Arabia is a crucial participant in any tough measures taken on Iran. A senior Saudi official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, acknowledged that Western powers had asked Saudi Arabia to take a bigger role in confronting Iran, adding that every country has asked us to cooperate to ease tensions in this matter.
In recent years, gulf states have significantly increased military spending, largely to focus on terrorism and other internal security threats. But as Iran's nuclear program evolves, it could lead many governments in the region to turn their attention outward at a time when high oil prices have given them the financial wherewithal to invest heavily in weapons. 
People are growing concerned about the potential for a new arms race in the region, said Jordan's foreign minister, Abdelelah al-Khatib.
Obviously there is more than one country processing nuclear material, Mr. Khatib said, alluding to Israel's nuclear program. But Iran's suspected efforts to build its own bomb, he said, only encourage others to get involved, and that is no recipe for stability in the future.
Iranian officials have repeatedly said they are pursuing only peaceful nuclear power. Even so, gulf states fear a meltdown of Iran's Russian-designed nuclear reactors just a few hundred miles away from them. 
Last year, a high-level Kuwiati delegation met with Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to convey such concerns, a senior Kuwaiti official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly. Still, Mr. Ahmadinejad did not agree to stop the work.
Now with diplomacy appearing to falter and the drumbeat for sanctions rising, Arab governments have come forward in a more public way. 
With the failure of E.U. efforts, it is natural that this will attract more international and Arab backing, the Kuwaiti official said. The G.C.C. would support any U.N. consensus on the issue, he added, referring to the Gulf Cooperative Council.
Until now, the central problem for most Arab governments in supporting sanctions has been the open secret of Israel's nuclear weapons. Iran's nuclear program may ultimately pose a greater threat to most gulf states than Israel's does. But nations in the region are wary of appearing to serve American foreign policy by demanding that Iran end its nuclear ambitions without addressing Israel. 
Last month, Prince Saud accused the West of inciting the Iranian nuclear crisis by remaining quiet about Israel's nuclear weapons and prompting others to follow suit.
In December, a proposal put forward by Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates for a nuclear-free zone in the region on environmental grounds was adopted by the Gulf Council. While it called on Israel to halt nuclear development, it was clearly aimed at Iran, experts say. 
We are talking about Iran becoming a nuclear power, said an official of the United Arab Emirates who was present at the discussions but was not authorized to speak about them publicly. You are bringing a Chernobyl-type plant from the Soviet Union, ancient technology, and you want to put it 120 kilometers from the shores of the Arab gulf? The introduction of nuclear technology, even for peaceful purposes, threatens the environment for all of us. 
Massoud Derhally contributed reporting for this article.