Kerry: If Saudi Arabia Pursues a Bomb, It Will Repeat Iran's Experience

John Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State, dismissed the possibility that Saudi Arabia would acquire nuclear weapons to maintain a power balance with Iran, stating that if Riyadh pursued such an action, it would experience the same events that occurred with Iran. In an interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN regarding the nuclear agreement and the release of prisoners in Iran, Kerry responded to the question of whether Saudi Arabia might buy a bomb from Pakistan by saying, "You can't just buy a bomb and bring it in." The CNN reporter pointed to Saudi Arabia's financial capability and wealth to purchase a nuclear bomb, to which Kerry replied, "There are very diverse consequences and penalties (for nuclear proliferation) for engaging in such an action." He added, "I mean, it would have enormous consequences. I believe that Saudi Arabia knows that such an action would not bring them security, as they would face the same issues Iran did regarding the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, inspections, and other measures." Following Iran's non-compliance with United Nations Security Council resolutions, the international community imposed severe sanctions on Iran's nuclear program in recent years. However, with the election of Hassan Rouhani in Iran, the country reached a temporary agreement for this crisis. Ultimately, Iran and six world powers reached a comprehensive and final agreement this summer, and the implementation of this agreement began on Saturday. In another part, the U.S. Secretary of State responded to the question of whether diplomatic relations with Iran could be established as they were with Cuba last year, stating: "Do I see such a prospect? Yes, it is possible that at some point in the future, this could happen. But I do not want to speculate on this matter." John Kerry emphasized that before such a topic could become the focus of negotiations, a series of serious issues with Iran need to be resolved. He noted that it would be better for the world if we moved in a different direction, and Iran must reduce tensions with Gulf countries. In response to a question about Iran's role in the Syrian peace process, he stated that Iran has accepted to participate alongside Saudi Arabia and other countries in this process. He added that despite recent differences between Saudi Arabia and Iran, both countries have stated that these differences will not affect the Syrian peace negotiations. Kerry also emphasized that Iran's proposal for a ceasefire and elections in Syria is close to the Geneva agreement on the Syrian peace process. When the CNN host mentioned that with the implementation of the nuclear agreement, Iran would gain access to billions of dollars of its frozen assets, John Kerry reacted by saying: "I want to clarify one point. In recent days, it has been repeatedly reported by some news networks that Iran will have access to one hundred billion dollars or one hundred and fifty billion dollars." He added: "This figure is neither 100 billion nor 150 billion dollars. Rather, there are about 55 billion dollars that Iran will access over a period of time. I do not want to say that this amount is small, but Iran has extensive needs now, something around 500 billion dollars is needed to rebuild its oil industry and economic infrastructure." Meanwhile, Valiollah Seif, the head of Iran's Central Bank, also stated after the implementation of the nuclear agreement on Saturday that with the lifting of sanctions, about 30 billion dollars of Iran's frozen foreign assets would be released.