Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman shakes hands with US President Donald Trump, at the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019 [Handout via Reuters]
Luciano Zaccara, Al Jazeera: Trump is laying the ground for a nuclear arms race in the Gulf
Trump's mismanagement of the nuclear issue in the Middle East is damaging the international nonproliferation regime.
Over the past three months since the Trump administration imposed severe sanctions on Iran, which have significantly curbed its oil exports and exacerbated its economic crisis, tensions in the Gulf have escalated. Commercial vessels have been attacked, oil tankers seized and drones shot down. Despite these escalations, both sides are holding back and at least in the short-term, an open conflict so far seems unlikely.
In the long-term, however, the highly-problematic approach that the United States has adopted towards the nuclear issue could have devastating consequences. Two recent developments point in that direction.
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WNU Editor: Long before President Trump was on the scene a number of Middle Eastern countries had .... or still have .... a nuclear weapons program. Israel was the first. Iraq under Saddam Hussein wanted nuclear weapons (we know what happened there). Syria's nuclear facilities were bombed by Israel before the Syrian war. Egypt abandoned its program to develop nuclear weapons. Iran has had a nuclear program since the 1990s. And now Saudi Arabia wants one.
