Saudi Arabia believes it now has the jump on Iran's nuclear designs by acquiring two Pakistan nuclear weapons which are held ready for delivery to the kingdom at a Pakistani nuclear base. This initiative represents the victory of the hawks in the Saudi royal house and encounters strong disapproval ...

Riyadh has signaled its intention for the secret Saudi-Israeli meetings on Iran taking place for more than a year to continue after the changing of the guard at the Mossad, debkafile's intelligence sources reveal. This message Tamir Pardo found on his desk when he took over from Meir Dagan this week as head of Israel's external spy agency. It means that, regardless of WikiLeaks disclosures, the Saudis stand by their conviction that Iran's nuclear program must be destroyed.

King Abdullah is ill; Sultan who is next in line to the throne is dying of cancer. The thousands of princes are caught up in a succession race that may rejuvenate the gerontocracy.

In a sudden about-face, the Saudis Monday, Oct. 25, urged Lebanon's pro-Western Prime Minister Saad Hariri to step down without delay and make way for an administration dominated by pro-Syrian ministers and Hizballah. King Abdullah, according to debkafile's Middle East and Beirut sources, sees no other way of saving Lebanon from tipping over into bloody strife over Hizballah's demand to disband the international tribunal probing the 2005 murder of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia secretly carried out their first ever joint exercise this week with the participation of their special operations, marine, armored, missile, air and naval forces, debkafile's military sources reveal.  Exercise Tabuk-2 was programmed to repulse a potential Iranian attack on Saudi Arabia by taking the battle over to Islamic Republican territory. It took place in Egypt's northern desert abutting the Mediterranean Sea where conditions resemble the eastern Saudi Arabian Persian Gulf coast.

Riyadh fears the Obama administration's neglect is allowing Iran to march across the Sunni Arab Middle East unopposed, with Lebanon, Sudan and Iraq falling under Shiite sway and civil wars impending.

At a secret meeting in Jeddah, top US and Saudi officials discussed a plan to airlift al Qaeda out of Afghanistan in order to free Taliban leader Mullah Omar to negotiate an end to the war and partial restoration of Taliban rule.

For now, there is no sign ...

The phone call between Saudi King Abdullah and President Barack Obama ended in a falling-out on almost all US Middle East policies. Abudllah sees Obama as blinding hiself to an Iranian-Russian trap.

Saudi Abdullah undertakes to end the war by restoring Taliban to power in Kabul with the active assistance of Pakistan. The US-Saudi-Pakistan lineup to reinstate Taliban under Islamabad's aegis could push India into Iran's arms. 

King Abdullah regards Barack Obama's Middle East policy as "inept, ignorant and arrogant." He sent Prince Turki Al-Faisal to lay his views out on the table in detail, in the crudest terms.

For their secret Khamis Mushait nuclear center, the Saudis have acquired some low-grade enriched uranium and are planning light water and heavy water reactors. Iran exploited Yemen's civil war to steer the Houthi rebels into invading Saudi Arabia and heading toward its nuclear center.

Saudi nuclear program is coordinated with and assisted by Washington on the understanding that the oil kingdom will be the sole Sunni Muslim nuclear power in the Middle East and rival to Iran.

The Obama administration's nuclear initiatives and strategy for Iran have not managed to thwart a Middle East arms race. That race is well under way with Saudi Arabia in the van - as DEBKA-Net-Weekly reveals in exclusive detail in its latest issue out Friday.
Washington is now trying hard to grab the steering wheel and safeguard its Persian Gulf interests.
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The test-firing of a US Trident nuclear-capable ballistic missile from Saudi Arabia signaled the Gulf nations that a US nuclear umbrella was in place to protect them against a nuclear-armed Iran. Sanctions were overtaken and Israel was cut out of the military equation for Iran.

Riyadh is worried by the vagueness of US plans for Iran and refuses to admit thousands of US troops without being sure where the US is going.

While exploiting Israel's ill-timed announcement of 1,600 new homes in East Jerusalem for concessions to the Palestinians, debkafile's Washington sources report Washington will keep twisting the Netanyahu government's arm until it toes the line on Iran. Obama's acceptance of Iran's nuclear program is spurned not only by Israel but also by Saudi Arabia and the moderate Arab regimes. But the president is pushing for endorsement before campaigning for US midterm elections to Congress.

 

US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates arrived in Riyadh Wednesday, March 10, flying in unexpectedly from Kabul in Afghanistan, after the Saudis demanded urgent clarifications of the Obama administration's Iran policy. debkafile's military sources report the demand followed the failure of US Vice President Joe Biden's talks with Israeli leaders to resolve their differences on More...