ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the Arab states' propensities to acquire nuclear weapons within the context of the Arab-Israeli protracted conflict. However, a study of the Iraqi and Iranian motivations is incomplete without an understanding of the other conflict in the region, the Iran-Iraq protracted conflict. The chapter discusses that the Iran-Iraq protracted conflict is incorporated to understand the drive for nuclear weapons by these two key countries in the Middle East. Iran's nuclear policy has been consistent in the sense that it has continued to develop its nuclear weapons. Its conflict with Iraq is far from resolution, and it considers Israel as the Islamic enemy involved in territorial conflict with the Arab countries including itself. The Egyptian perspectives on building its nuclear capability have varied in different periods of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The various nuclear policies pursued by Egypt provide a better understanding of the relationship between war in a territorial conflict, deterrent-capability requirements and nuclear weapons acquisition.
