The signing of the nuclear cooperation pact between China and Saudi Arabia was a watershed event. It was one thing when the Saudis purchased several nuclear weapons from Pakistan, but another thing entirely when they decided to learn to master the entire nuclear cycle themselves.
The Saudi monarchy is as doomed as any monarchy. Saudi moderates are as doomed in the short term as any moderates in Arab countries. Saudi nuclear scientists will fall under the rule of Muslim radicals.
After a decade of Iran’s military nuclear program, Israeli still finds it politically problematic to bomb Iran, perhaps the most radical country on earth. Much less we would be able to attack the nuclear infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, the backbone of the world’s oil supply. Our chances are specifically minimized by Saudi Arabia’s claim that it needs nuclear weapons to protect its oil sources, and thus the world’s oil supply.
Iran will have to act quickly to realize its nuclear advantage. Suffering years of isolation in pursuit of nuclear weapons, only to see its new-found power balanced by Saudi nuclear capability, would be an unimaginable loss to the ayatollahs. The Saudi nuclear program could well trigger an Iranian nuclear strike. It remains to be seen where the strike will land.
