Arab Foreign ministers of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) were meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh to discuss progress in their plans for a joint civil atomic program that has raised fears of a nuclear race with Iran.
They agreed at a summit in December to study the feasibility of developing nuclear energy.
“The nuclear crisis in the region has become an extra burden to challenges that are already facing us,” Saudi Foreign Affairs Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told GCC foreign ministers.
“This urges us to deal with the new challenge with full responsibility … and adopt diplomatic solutions in a way that would preserve the right of countries in the region for their own nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.”
Prince Saud also criticized Israel, which is widely believed to have the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal.
“The International Atomic Energy Agency standards and measures should apply to all countries in the region without exceptions, including Israel.”
The GCC is a loose political and economic alliance which comprises Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.
Earlier, GCC Secretary-General Abdul-Rahman al-Attiyah, who visited the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last month, said he would brief the meeting about plans to cooperate with the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
The GCC’s decision to pursue a nuclear program has raised concerns that Arab states may want to protect themselves if Iran acquires nuclear weapons. Gulf Arabs have expressed concern over Iran’s nuclear program which the United States says could be aimed at making bombs. Tehran says its program is peaceful.
Six world powers are now negotiating widening sanctions against Iran for pressing ahead with its program to enrich uranium and ignoring a February 21 U.N. deadline to stop.
Gulf states say their nuclear program will be used for power generation.
(Additional reporting by Stanley Carvalho in Abu Dhabi)
