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Friday, Sept. 19, 2003

The London Guardian said a strategy paper being considered at the highest levels in Riyadh included three options, including the acquisition of a nuclear capability as a deterrent. The others would be to maintain or enter into an alliance with a nuclear power that would offer protection, and to try to reach a regional agreement on having a nuclear-free Middle East.

Until now, the report said, the U.S. assumption was that Saudi Arabia was content to remain under the United States' nuclear umbrella. But, it said, the relationship between the countries has steadily worsened since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on America. Fifteen of the 19 attackers were Saudi.

U.N. officials and nuclear arms analysts said the Saudi review reflected worries about an Iranian nuclear program and to the absence of any international pressure on Israel, which has an estimated 200 nuclear devices.

Copyright 2003 by United Press International.

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