Nuclear program of Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is not known to have a nuclear weapons program. From an official and public standpoint, Saudi Arabia has been an opponent of nuclear weapons in the Middle East, having signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and is a member of the coalition of countries demanding a Nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East.Akaki Dvali. Center for Nonproliferation Studies (nti.org) (March 2004).
Will Saudi Arabia Acquire Nuclear Weapons?
''; Arnaud de Borchgrave. ''Washington Times'' (22 October 2003) Studies of nuclear proliferation have not identified Saudi Arabia as a country of concern.
Nuclear technology company IP3 International was formed in June 2016 to transfer nuclear technology from the United States to Saudi Arabia.

However, over the years there have been media reports of Saudi Arabia's intent to purchase a nuclear weapon from an outside source. In 2003, a leaked strategy paper laid out three possible options for the Saudi government: to acquire a nuclear deterrent, to ally with and become protected by an existing nuclear nation, or to try to reach agreement on having a nuclear-free Middle East. UN officials and weapons experts have suggested the review was prompted by a distancing of relations with the United States, concerns over Iran's nuclear program, and a lack of international pressure on Israel to give up its nuclear weapons.

Nuclear deal with United States

In May 2008, the United States and Saudi Arabia signed a memorandum of understanding, as part of the United States' vintage Atoms for Peace program, to boost Saudi efforts for a civilian nuclear program. The program did not involve support for the development of nuclear weapons.

Pakistan's involvement

Historically, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have had a cordial relationship. Pakistani political scientists and historians have noted that Saudi interest in nuclear technology began in 1970s after Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto convened a meeting of Pakistan's leading theoretical physicists (who went on to join the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals) with the Saudi royal government during a visit by the Saudi royal family to Pakistan in 1974 as part of the 2nd OIC conference at Lahore. At this meeting, Bhutto noted the advances made in the Israeli and the Indian nuclear programs, which he took as attempts to intimidate the Muslim world.

It is widely believed that Saudi Arabia has been a major financier of Pakistan's own integrated atomic bomb project since 1974, a program founded by former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. In the 1980s, Chief Martial Law Administrator and President General Zia-ul-Haq paid a state visit to Saudi Arabia where he unofficially told the King that: "Our achievements are yours". This cooperation was allegedly furthered by socialist prime minister Benazir Bhutto in 1995. In 1998, the conservative Prime minister Nawaz Sharif informed Saudi Arabia confidentially before ordering the nuclear tests (see ''Chagai-I'' and ''Chagai-II'') in the Weapon-testing labs-III (WTL) located in the Chagai remote site in Balochistan Province of Pakistan. In June 1998, the Prime Minister paid a farewell visit to King Fahd and publicly thanked the Saudi government for supporting the country after the tests. Shortly thereafter, Saudi Minister of Defense Prince Sultan went with Prime Minister Sharif on a tour of a classified institute, the Kahuta Research Laboratories (KRL), where leading scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan briefed the Prince and Prime Minister Sharif on nuclear physics and sensitive issues involving nuclear explosive devices.

Since 1998, Western diplomats and intelligence agencies have long believed that an agreement exists in which Pakistan would sell Saudi Arabia nuclear warheads and its own nuclear technology should security in the Persian Gulf deteriorate. Both countries have sharply denied the existence of such an agreement. In 2003, globalsecurity.org reported that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia had entered a secret agreement on nuclear cooperation providing Saudi Arabia with nuclear weapons technology in return for access to cheap oil for Pakistan.

In March 2006, the German magazine ''Cicero'' reported that Saudi Arabia had, since 2003, received assistance from Pakistan to acquire nuclear missiles and warheads. Satellite photos allegedly reveal an underground city with nuclear silos containing Ghauri rockets in Al-Sulaiyil, south of the capital Riyadh. There is another, newer ballistic missile base in Al-Watah. Pakistan has denied aiding Saudi Arabia in its nuclear ambitions.

In 2013, BBC
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