There are no verified reports indicating that Saudi Arabia maintains 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. Intelligence assessment on nuclear proliferation have not listed Saudi Arabia as a country of concern, and the United States has formed the IP3 International to transfer the civilian nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia on June 2016. 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. The UN officials and IAEA 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. In July 2026, the United States and Saudi Arabia finalized a 123 Agreement for Saudi Arabia to build a civilian nuclear program.
Overview
Foreign collaboration The Saudi interests in nuclear power began in April 2010 when Saudi government in Riyadh declared to start a nuclear power program, initially without the cooperation from other nuclear power nations, with the statement: "The development of atomic energy is essential to meet the Kingdom's growing requirements for energy to generate electricity, produce desalinated water and reduce reliance on depleting hydrocarbon resources". The Saudi government set-up the agency, the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KA-CARE) to oversee the civilian nuclear program while commissioning the Finnish consulting firm, Pöyry PLC to assists in expounding "high-level strategy in the area of nuclear and renewable energy applications" with desalination. In 2015, Saudi Arabia reached and signed an agreement with South Korea to start the work on the reactor technology (SMART reactors) to be jointly developed by Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) and the KA-CARE. In 2017, Saudi Arabia signed an agreement with China to explore the uranium as a joint venture between Chinese National Nuclear Corporation and the Saudi Geological Survey.
Allegations on Pakistan The western media outlets have widely speculated that Saudi Arabia had been a major investor of Pakistan's covert nuclear weapons program since 1974, a program founded by former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. In early 1980s, President Zia-ul-Haq had allegedly told the Saudi dignitaries that "Our achievements are yours". In May 1998, the Saudi Arabia played a key role in stabilizing the country's economy when the decision was made to conduct the nuclear weapons testing in a view of balancing the act of power in South Asia. In June 1998, Prime minister Nawaz Sharif publicly thanked King Fahd doing his farewell visit to the Kingdom. In 1999, Prime minister Sharif approved the request of Saudi Minister of Defense Prince Sultan to visit the country's nuclear physics laboratories, which raised the concerns of nuclear proliferation. After this visit, the European diplomats and media have long suspected that "an agreement" exists between two nations in which Pakistan would sell Saudi Arabia a nuclear warhead if the security in the Persian Gulf deteriorate. These allegations have been sharply denied and refuted by both nations. In March 2006, the German magazine, Cicero, alleged that Saudi Arabia has been receiving assistance from Pakistan to acquire missiles with published satellite photos that revealed a missile silo with nuclear silos allegedly containing the Ghauri nuclear warheads in Al-Sulaiyil, south of the capital Riyadh, followed by another missile silo site in al-Watah. The Government of Pakistan has sharply denied the allegations in aiding Saudi Arabia in its nuclear ambitions. In 2013, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which used multiple past sources, again leveled allegations on Pakistan by providing the Saudis with the nuclear warhead with and various sources also telling the BBC Persian, regarding Saudi government belief that they are able to gain nuclear weapons at will. The Obama administration (2009–17), which had witnessed the tense relations between Pakistan–United States, had told The Times that "Riyadh could have the nuclear warheads in a matter of days of approaching Islamabad." On commenting of the security in the Gulf region, the Pakistan Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Muhammad Naeem, reaffirmed his country's commitment to the Saudi Arabia as the "security of the Kingdom not just as a diplomatic or an internal matter but as a personal matter with the Saudi leadership considered Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to be one country. Any threat to Saudi Arabia is also a threat to Pakistan." Nonetheless, the allegations were leveled up on Pakistan with European intelligence sources having been told The Guardian that the Saudi monarchy has paid for up to 60% of the Pakistan's atomic bomb projects and in return has the option to buy five to six nuclear warheads off the shelf. In 2013, British journalist, Mark Urban and Amos Yadlin, a former head of Israeli military intelligence, told a conference in Sweden that if Iran got the bomb, "the Saudis will not wait one month. They already paid for the bomb, they will go to Pakistan and bring what they need to bring." Since 2009, when King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia warned visiting U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Dennis Ross that if Iran crossed the threshold, "we will get nuclear weapons", the Kingdom has sent the Americans numerous signals of its intentions. Gary Samore, who until March 2013 was President Barack Obama's counter-proliferation adviser, told BBC Newsnight: "I do think that the Saudis believe that they have some understanding with Pakistan that, in extremis, they would have claim to acquire nuclear weapons from Pakistan."
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