The Pakistani Defense Minister said that his mother’s nuclear program “will be available” for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia if necessary under the new defense agreement for the countries.
Defense Minister Khawaja Mohamed Asif’s comments on geographical television were late Thursday night the first specific recognition that Pakistan was putting Saudi Arabia under the umbrella of its nuclear arms.
Asif said: “What we have, and the capabilities we possess, will be provided to (Saudi Arabia) according to this agreement.”
“If any of the countries are attacked, we will respond jointly,” he added.
The two countries signed a defensive deal on Wednesday, announcing that the attack on one nation would be an attack on both.
None of the countries responded to questions about the agreement and what it means regarding reaching the Pakistan nuclear arsenal.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is believed to have a local ballistic missile program, which can be a connection system for a nuclear weapon. However, the kingdom is a member of the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty and it is not known to have moved towards obtaining the bomb through its work.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia sought to help present a civilian nuclear energy program, partly with what was a proposed agreement for diplomatic recognition with Israel, as US President Donald Trump was hoping to expand Ibrahim agreements To include the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during his second term. But Riyadh has made it clear that it would not create relations with the Israelis until the Israeli war stopped Hamas and there is a way to the Palestinian state.
Saudi financial support is long -term
Some view this week’s step as a reference to Israel, which has long been believed to be the only nuclear armed nuclear nation in the Middle East. This comes after the killing of the Israeli attack, which targeted Hamas leaders in Qatar last week, six people and raised new concerns between the Arab Gulf states about their safety amid the Hamas war.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has long been linked to the Pakistani nuclear program. Retired Pakistani dean. General Fayrouz Hassan Khan said that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia provided “the generous financial support to Pakistan, which enabled the nuclear program to continue, especially when the country was under the imposition of sanctions,” referring to the US sanctions that Pakistan faced for years because of its follow -up to the bomb.
The declared nuclear doctrine in Pakistan says its weapons aim only to deduct India in the long run, as the two countries have become nuclear in the nineties.
Pakistan, the only Islamic nuclear armed nation, is one of the poorest countries in Asia, but it has an army of more than 600,000 soldiers to defend its largest opponent, which has fought three main wars. The countries had many smaller clashes, including the four -day conflict in May, which was the heavier fighting for decades.
India is believed to have an estimated 172 nuclear warheads, while Pakistan has 170, according to the atomic scientists bulletin published in the United States.
But Pakistan is struggling to compete with the Indian defense budget, which is at least seven times, which means that any new Saudi injection of money can be somewhat balance. Relations between countries after the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979 and the Kingdom’s fears of confrontation with Tehran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia increased Help Pakistan financially for decades.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shibaz Sharif thanked the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, for his “great interest in expanding Saudi investments, trade and business relations”, in a statement on Thursday.
India said on Thursday that it “will study the effects of this development of our national security as well as for regional and global stability.”
Israel and the United States did not comment on the deal.
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