King Abdullah says Jordan seeks nuclear programme

JERUSALEM, Jan 19 (Reuters) King Abdullah of Jordan said his country is looking to develop a peaceful nuclear programme, an Israeli newspaper reported today.

His comments came amid growing Arab concern over Iran's uranium enrichment programme, which Tehran says is part of a peaceful nuclear project to produce electricity but which Western nations fear could produce nuclear weapons.

''We are actually looking at nuclear power for peaceful and energy purposes,'' Abdullah told Haaretz newspaper in an interview.

''The rules have changed on the nuclear subject throughout the whole region. Where I think Jordan was saying, 'We'd like to have a nuclear-free zone in the area,' after this summer, everybody's going for nuclear programmes,'' Abdullah said.

Jordan joins a growing list of Sunni Muslim West Asia countries -- including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Algeria -- who have shown interest in developing nuclear power, partly out of concern over plans by Shi'ite Iran.

Iran's growing influence in Iraq and the West Asia prompted Abdullah to warn two years ago that Tehran was trying ''to create a Shi'ite crescent'' through the region.

Israel, which is believed to have the region's only nuclear arsenal, says it will not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for Israel to be ''wiped off the map''.

Abdullah added that any country with a nuclear programme must conform to international regulations and allow international regulatory bodies to make sure its programme ''moves in the right direction''.

Abdullah's father, King Hussein, signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994.

Reuters PB VV1829