Special to WorldTribune.com

LONDON — Saudi Arabia was said to have paid Pakistan for nuclear weapons, meant for delivery once Iran achieves such capability.

European and Israeli sources said Saudi Arabia has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program. They said Islamabad has already assembled an unspecified number of nuclear warheads waiting for delivery to Riyad.

“They [Saudis] already paid for the bomb,” former Israeli Military Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin said.

Last month, Yadlin told a strategic conference in Sweden that Saudi Arabia was closely monitoring Iran’s nuclear weapons program. The reserve general, now director of Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, said Riyad would import its first nuclear weapons immediately after Teheran was determined to have achieved nuclear arms capability.

“The Saudis will not wait a month,” Yadlin said.

Yadlin’s assertion was echoed by other leading analysts. On Nov. 6, the
British Broadcasting Corp. quoted a senior NATO official as reporting
that Islamabad has produced nuclear weapons for Saudi Arabia.

“[They] are now sitting ready for delivery,” the official said.

Saudi Arabia has been warning the United States that it would respond to
Iran with nuclear weapons. The first warning was said to have been issued in
2009 during a meeting between then-U.S. envoy Dennis Ross and King Abdullah.

Pakistan has acknowledged massive Saudi aid to Pakistan’s strategic
programs, including nuclear. Pakistani diplomats were said to have also
discussed with their U.S. counterparts the prospect of Islamabad’s nuclear
assistance to Riyad.

“The Pakistanis certainly maintain a certain number of warheads on the
basis that if the Saudis were to ask for them at any given time they would
immediately be transferred,” the BBC quoted a former Pakistani intelligence
officer as saying.

  Amos Yadlin, Dennis Ross, Ex-Israeli intel chief: Pakistan nukes for Saudis bought and paid for, Institute for National Security Studies, Iran nuclear weapons program, King Abdullah