Nuclear Proliferation in the Middle East. By Leheb Wahab *

Introduction: With the focus of the international community confined to a great degree to Iran’s nuclear capability, a trend has emerged in the MENA region with more and more countries vying for nuclear technology albeit for peaceful purposes, primarily as a mean to produce electricity preserving its hydrocarbon industry, i.e., the oil gas sector and maximizing its return from exporting the two commodities. This development is seen as a counter balance to the threat of Iran nuclear capability. An interesting point worth pondering ,however, is that all the Middle Eastern Countries, Iran included ( together with Turkey ) are all signatories to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and thus abide by the rules and regulations set by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) , with the exception of Israel, that has a well-developed nuclear programme, with more than 400 nuclear warheads at Dimona facility in the Negev desert.