Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon. (Alex Kolomoisky/POOL)





Israel has picked up signs of the beginning of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East as Arab states seek nuclear weapons to counter Iran, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon warned.

Moshe Ya’alon said Sunni Arab nations were not reassured by last year’s nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers and were making their own preparations for nuclear weapons.

According to a report in The Telegraph, Israel has picked up signs of the beginning of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East as Arab states seek nuclear weapons to counter Iran, Ya’alon warned.

“We see signs that countries in the Arab world are preparing to acquire nuclear weapons, that they are not willing to sit quietly with Iran on brink of a nuclear or atomic bomb,” Ya’alon said.

Ya’alon made the claim after meeting the king of Jordan, King Abdullah II, one of only two Arab states with which Israel has open diplomatic ties.