Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs Secretary denied that his country’s nuclear programme has anything to do with any other country. Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry’s comment was a direct answer to a recent report saying that Pakistan could sell an “off-the-shelf” nuclear weapon to Saudi Arabia.
According to the Pakistani Minister, his country developed nuclear weapons in response to a threat that Pakistan perceives from the east, and he described the suggestions that Pakistan could sell a nuclear weapon to another country as “unfounded, baseless and untrue.”
Last month a Saudi defense official dismissed reports from international media that his country intends to buy “off the shelf” nuclear weapons from Pakistan and characterized them as mere “speculation”.
Although both countries, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, have denied the reports, diplomats from the Gulf States have suggested that Saudi Arabia or even the United Arab Emirates could acquire a nuclear bomb from Pakistan in response to the nuclear programme of Tehran.
The issue of the Pakistani nuclear bomb, and the rumors that Saudi Arabia might try to buy Pakistani nuclear weapons, have raised concerns in Washington, as President Barack Obama finalizes a nuclear deal with Iran after a long period of hard negotiations.
Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry’s comment that Pakistan is not going to sell nuclear weapons to Saudi Arabia, comes after days of high-level talks in Washington last week.
Despite the optimism of the US administration for a positive agreement with Tehran about its nuclear programme, Riyadh fears that Iran would retain significant capabilities to weaponize the nuclear technology it has obtained.
Saudi Arabia also fears that the lift of international sanctions will allow Iran to gather tens of billions of dollars that would otherwise be spent on military procurement, while key elements of Tehran’s nuclear program would remain intact.