ARAB AFFAIRS - Dec 10 - Gulf Arabs Weigh Joint Nuclear Programme.

Gulf Arab leaders consider a joint civilian nuclear programme, a move that can heighten proliferation concerns in the oil-rich region. The decision to order a study, announced at the end of a two-day summit in Riyadh attended by leaders from the GCC, comes at a time of mounting Arab concern over Iran's nuclear ambitions and its growing regional power. The Sec Gen of the GCC Abdul-Rahman al-Attiya, which includes Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, the UAE and Qatar, stressed that Gulf countries had the right to nuclear energy technology for peaceful purposes. "The higher committee ordered a GCC-wide study to be carried out to create a joint programme of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, according to general standards and arrangements", he said. The summit called on Iran to abide by its international obligations and urged Israel, which has the region's only nuclear arsenal - although undeclared - to sign up to the NPT and open its facilities to inspection. The GCC meeting followed a warning from Saudi Arabia on Dec 8 that Israel's nuclear arms could prompt moderate Arab states to seek nuclear weapons. Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz, the kingdom's intelligence chief, told a conference in Bahrain that Israel's arsenal could "encourage moderate countries in the region to set up their own nuclear programmes, whether concealed or declared, aiming at creating military balance in the region". Although Prince Muqrin's statement did not refer to Iran, analysts at the conference, a regional dialogue organised by the UK's International Institute for Strategic Studies, speculated that it was intended to warn Tehran as much as Israel. Iran insists its programme is designed for peaceful energy production but western governments suspect the aim is to develop nuclear arms. United Nations Security Council members are considering imposing mild sanctions against Iran to force it to suspend its uranium-enrichment activities. Several pro-western Arab countries - most recently Egypt - have expressed interest in developing nuclear technology, raising fears of an arms race in a region caught up in a struggle between Sunni Arab regimes and Shi'ite Iran. Tehran has been expanding its influence in the Middle East, from Iraq to Syria and Lebanon, where the Shi'ite Hizbullah movement is seeking to topple an Arab and western-backed government through sustained street protests. While Arab governments fret, Iran has been sounding ever more confident. Speaking in Bahrain on Dec 9, FM Manouchehr Mottaki, called on his neighbours to end their reliance on foreign powers.