Saudi Arabia Promises To Match Iran In Nuclear Capability

Saudi Arabia Promises To Match Iran In Nuclear Capability
Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz (C) walks out to receive Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid al-Maktoum, ruler of Dubai (unseen) upon his arrival to attend the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit in Riyadh on May 5, 2015. AFP PHOTO / FAYEZ NURELDINE (Photo credit should read FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP/Getty Images)
Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz (C) walks out to receive Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid al-Maktoum, ruler of Dubai (unseen) upon his arrival to attend the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit in Riyadh on May 5, 2015. AFP PHOTO / FAYEZ NURELDINE (Photo credit should read FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP/Getty Images)

When President Obama began making the case for a deal with Iran that would delay its ability to assemble an atomic weapon, his first argument was that a nuclear-armed Iran would set off a “free-for-all” of proliferation in the Arab world. “It is almost certain that other players in the region would feel it necessary to get their own nuclear weapons,” he said in 2012.

Now, as he gathered Arab leaders over dinner at the White House on Wednesday and prepared to meet with them at Camp David on Thursday, he faced a perverse consequence: Saudi Arabia and many of the smaller Arab states are now vowing to match whatever nuclear enrichment capability Iran is permitted to retain.

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