US report: Iran nuke unlikely to start Mideast arms race

Fears that an Iranian nuclear weapon might trigger an atomic arms race across the Middle East are overplayed, a US security thinktank said on Tuesday.

According to the report, even if Saudi Arabia wished to acquire a bomb, "significant disincentives would weigh against a mad rush by Riyadh to develop nuclear weapons". Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, is engaged in a fierce rivalry with Shi'ite power Iran and is seen in Western countries as the most likely Middle Eastern state to seek an atomic weapon if Iran did the same. (Reuters)