[9mm_fan]

http://www.inss.org.il/publications....cat=&read=3973

From news article:
On the basis of a memo written by the US Secretary of Defense, the New York Times reported recently that “the United States does not have an effective long-range policy for dealing with Iran’s steady progress toward nuclear capability.” On the same day, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia issued a royal order establishing a science complex called King Abdullah City dedicated solely to “research and development of all aspects of nuclear energy.” Coincidence? Apparently. However, the steady progress made by Iran in its nuclear program and the fact that so far America’s policy on the matter has failed to prove itself have caused concern in Riyadh about relying exclusively on possible American defense guarantees. Accordingly, what options are open to Saudi Arabia vis-ÃÂ-vis the reality of a nuclear Iran? Intensify cooperation with the United States? Turn a blind eye and maintain good neighborly relations with Iran? Or perhaps acquire its own nuclear deterrence? Saudi Arabia’s concern that in certain scenarios it is liable to find itself having to tackle a nuclear Iran by itself may lead it to examine all the options.

Saudi Arabia may well understand that over time it is difficult, perhaps impossible, to prevent a state such as Iran – that along with its technological and economic capabilities made a strategic decision to develop nuclear capability – from completing its mission: Tehran may have concluded that its security constraints as well as the prestige and influence associated with having such weapons outweigh the political and economic cost it is paying and will continue to pay. Thus as early as 2006, at the annual Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, along with the other Gulf states, announced its interest in developing independent nuclear programs for peaceful purposes. Though not made public, the primary motivation was Iran’s nuclear ambition.