The US has revealed that it currently has 5,113 nuclear weapons in its arsenal and several thousand more waiting to be dismantled. This is down from a 1967 total of 31,255, making for a reduction in its arsenal of 84 percent, hardly the actions of a nation that, in the words of Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is the “main suspect” in fostering a nuclear arms race. It is an unexplained mystery why the US would be interested in fostering a nuclear arms race. It is difficult to find any rationale for one of the world's two major nuclear powers to support, let alone foster, an increase in the number of nuclear weapons in the world. When one is on top of the heap, it's not usual to invite others to share the peak. Whether Iran is bent on fostering an arms race is up for discussion. By contrast the UAE has announced agreements with the US to establish a nuclear industry there with the goal of implementing alternative energy sources in the future. King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, recently created a nuclear body in the Kingdom bent on attaining the same goal. Clearly both countries go about their nuclear projects with no hidden agenda. This is not an arms race, of course, as there is nothing in the past or present governance of either country to make the world fear that nuclear weapons are the ultimate goal of either country. These developments do, however, put pressure on Iran as the UAE and Saudi Arabia have agreed to play by the rules. Transparency rules. Tehran, on the other hand, has proceeded clandestinely with much of its program and given little access to UN inspectors. The result has been a series of economic sanctions that are likely to increase in the near future. Ahmadinejad's attempt to put the onus on the US fell on deaf ears at the UN, if it fell on ears at all. Ahmadinejad's presentation to the UN General Assembly resulted in a walk-out that left the room only one-third full at the end of his 35
