Kerry warns Saudi Arabia of consequences if they get Nukes

Washington, Jan 20: US Secretary of State John Kerry has warned both Saudi Arabia and Pakistan against indulging in trade of nuclear weapons, saying there will be "all kinds of NPT consequences" if Riyadh went ahead with any such plan.

Such a strong warning from Kerry comes amidst media reports that Saudi Arabia is trying to buy nuclear weapons from Pakistan.

Top Pakistani leaders have in recent weeks warned Iran of serious consequences if it attacked Saudi Arabia, which many analysts see a nuclear threat from Islamabad to Tehran.

"Sure we've heard those things. But you can't just buy a bomb and transfer (a nuclear bomb)," Kerry told CNN.

"There's all kinds of NPT consequences. I mean, there are huge implications of that," Kerry said, referring to the strong nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

He was asked, "The Saudis (are) not even ruling out the possibility, given their concern about this nuclear deal with Iran, they could go forward and buy some — maybe buy a nuclear bomb, maybe from Pakistan, you’ve heard those concerns."

Pakistan is already under the radar of the international community for its previous nuclear proliferation activities and leaking the nuclear weapons technology to countries like Iran, Libya and North Korea.

"Saudi Arabia knows, I believe, that that is not going to make them safer, nor is it going to be easy because the very things that Iran went through, they would then be subject to with respect to inspection, NPT and so forth," Kerry said.

PTI