The conversation between President Barack Obama and Saudi King Abdullah early Thursday, Feb. 10, was the most acerbic the US president has ever had with an Arab ruler, debkafile's sources report. Their falling out on the Egyptian crisis so enraged the king that some US and Middle East sources reported he suffered a sudden heart attack. Rumors of his death rocked world financial and oil markets that morning and were denied by an adviser to the ruling family.

The Obama-Abdullah talks were presented as businesslike and constructive, whereas they turned into a wrestling match over Iran and Riyadh's own nuclear armament plans. Their differences proved unbridgeable.

A submarine-launched US ballistic Trident missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads was test-fired from Saudi territory during a joint military exercise last week -  the first time a nuclear-capable missile was fired from the oil kingdom toward the Persian Gulf and Iranian shores.  A US defense spokesman denied the Trident's launch Wednesday, April 1, but Saudi security sources stand by the report.