FEARS that the Obama administration intends to let Iran become a nuclear power has sent other Middle Eastern countries shopping around for partners to help them join the nuclear club.
Saudi Arabia is the latest, announcing last Sunday that it's reached an "agreement in principle" with France to develop a "nuclear industry for peaceful purposes." It becomes the third Arab country -- after Egypt and Qatar -- to seek French help in joining the nuclear club. The United Arab Emirates, which has signed a pact with the United States not to enrich uranium, is negotiating a similar deal with France.
Iraq, which in the 1970s became the first Arab country to start a nuclear program, also intends to seek a return to the nuclear club. Last month, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki set up an effort to bring together Iraq's nuclear scientists and invite those in exile to return home.
It doesn't matter that the region is awash in oil and natural gas: The Gulf Cooperation Council has set up a study group to find a fast track to nuclear power. Having spent more than $140 billion on arms purchases in the past decade, the oil-rich Arab monarchies that make up the council -- Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman -- and allies such as Egypt and Jordan would have little difficulty financing a massive nuclear project.
Then there's Turkey, where a debate is under way about the need to develop "an indigenous nuclear capability." Some Turks regard America as a fickle friend and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, of which Turkey is a founding member, as "an umbrella full of holes." Iran has been Turkey's regional rival for more than 600 years. It would be inconceivable for the Turks to sit still and accept a nuclear-armed Iran. Read more.