The Middle East Nuclear Arms Race - There's Enough To Destroy The Whole Region:.

*** Olmert Has Sent To Assad A Clear Message That Israel Does Not Intend To Attack Syria - He Is Giving Damascus A Signal That Peace Talks Over Golan Now Are Possible - Is Olmert Worried That Syria May Start A War From The Golan Front This Summer?

*** The Bush Admin. Remains Split On Whether Bashar Al-Assad  Is A Potentially Good Partner For Peace Talks With The Jewish State *** Iran, France And Saudi Arabia Are Engaged In A Joint Effort To Defuse A Crisis In Lebanon Which Otherwise May Explode In The Face Of The Big Players In The Regional Axis

*** To The Bush's Neo-Cons, Syria, Hizbullah & Hamas/Jihad Have Joined Iran In The Post-Saddam The Axis Of Evil

NICOSIA - Israel and Pakistan are said to have more than 250 atomic bombs, enough to destroy the whole Middle East. As the Shi'ite theocracy of Iran is racing ahead with what the UN Security Council (UNSC) calls an illicit uranium-enrichment effort, at least 15 other Middle East states are moving forward with their own civilian nuclear programmes.

Eight UN experts returned to Vienna on May 26 after a week-long trip to Saudi Arabia to provide nuclear guidance to officials from the six Arab Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) states. That was the latest sign of how Iran's suspected weapons programme had sparked a chain reaction of nuclear interest among its Arab rivals, which some fear will lead to a scramble for atomic weapons in the world's most volatile region.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) sent the team to Riyadh to advise the GCC on building nuclear energy plants. Together, the GCC members - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE - control nearly half the world's known oil reserves.

Other states planning to have civilian nuclear reactors or having sought technical assistance and advice from the IAEA, and/or from the US, in the past year include Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Syria, Turkey and Yemen. None of these governments has disclosed plans to build nuclear weapons. But Iran's 18-year secret nuclear effort and its refusal to comply with current UNSC demands has fostered fears that the Arab world may feel the need to counter a nuclear-armed Iran. The same equipment can enrich uranium to fuel civilian reactors or, in time, atomic bombs.

Gregory Schulte, the US envoy to UN agencies in Vienna including the IAEA, on May 25 said: "There is no doubt...countries around the Gulf are worried...about whether Iran is seeking nuclear weapons. They're worried about whether it will prompt a nuclear arms race...which would be to no one's benefit". But in Doha, Qatar, on June 5, Schulte said: "The GCC has decided to pursue nuclear technology for peaceful purposes and we are very supportive of their initiative... We are ready to co-operate directly and with the IAEA. There are countries throughout the world that make use of nuclear technology for peaceful purpose...from treating cancer to having cleaner water sources...The US is the largest supporter for all these technical co-operation projects at the IAEA".

Mustafa al-Ani, an Iraqi-born security expert at the Gulf Research Centre (GRC), a think tank based in Dubai, says: "We have the right if the Iranians are going to insist on their right to develop their civilian nuclear programme. We tell the Iranians, 'We have no problem with you developing civilian nuclear energy, but if you're going to turn your nuclear programme into a weapons programme, we'll do the same'". But he says of the GCC efforts: "They feel it's a right and significant move at least to put [their] foot in the door of civilian nuclear energy. It's not a race, not yet".

The US has long backed the spread of peaceful nuclear energy under strict international safeguards. Schulte says the US diplomatic focus remains on stopping Iran before it can produce fuel for nuclear weapons, rather than restricting other states from developing nuclear plants to produce electricity. But those empowered to monitor and regulate civilian nuclear programmes around the world are worried.

IAEA head Muhammad ElBarade'i on May 24 said the surge of interest in sensitive nuclear technology raised the risk of weapons proliferation. Without singling out any state, he cautioned that some governments may insist on enriching their own uranium to ensure a steady supply of reactor fuel, telling a disarmament conference: "The concern is that by mastering the fuel cycle, countries move dangerously close to nuclear weapons capability". Iran is a case in point.

The US and Russia, the first two powers to develop atomic bombs, are in talks to co-ordinate global sales of nuclear fuel to discourage states, including Iran, from enriching uranium. The goal is to make nuclear fuel affordable to states which need it to produce electricity. (See rim6-IraqSadrVsHakim-Shi'iteHistoryJun11-07).

US Deputy Energy Secretary Clay Sell recently told a conference at the Carnegie Moscow Centre: The talks "are one of the reasons for my visit" to Moscow. Rising prices for crude oil and other fossil fuels used to fire power plants are making countries, including China, India, South Africa and Middle Eastern states, initiate or expand their nuclear power programmes.

The IAEA in November 2006 said nuclear energy could supply 25% more electricity than expected by 2030. Sell told the Moscow conference: "We hope to group fuel supplier nations that will offer services on a very attractive commercial basis, maybe on discount terms". He said the offer would separate nations with energy needs from those with military ambitions.

Russia and the US hope to form a group of nuclear fuel suppliers - which includes France, Britain, Germany, Japan and China - to co-ordinate in giving other states the service without the need for them to invest in uranium enrichment. Sell said this would "hopefully take away the desire, not the right, for nations to enrich their own uranium" - getting nuclear fuel suppliers billions of dollars in contracts and a degree of oversight to guarantee non-proliferation. More recently Russia's Federal Atomic Energy Agency chief Sergei Kiriyenko discussed details of the nuclear fuel project and a related group in Washington.