ABSTRACT
What if Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and others join Pakistan as nuclear weapons-armed states in the greater Middle East? And so what if China, North Korea, Russia, and other states outside the region aid and abet greater Middle Eastern states in their quests for nuclear weapons? Some observers argue that the proliferation of nuclear weapons is a natural inevitability and a trend that cannot be reversed. They even argue further that a wide distribution of nuclear weapons increases the risks and costs of war to the point that the incentives and chances of major war erupting would dramatically lessen to virtually zero in the greater Middle East.
