TEL AVIV – Saudi daily Al-Riyadh published an editorial claiming that the Iran nuclear deal shows the West is repeating the mistakes it made with North Korea.
The editorial, titled “Iran Following in the Footsteps of North Korea” and translated by MEMRI, condemned the superpowers for believing promises made by Iran, a regime that, according to the article, “is failed and tyrannical to the point of insanity.”
Published on Thursday, the editorial comes on the heels of reports that North Korea tested a hydrogen bomb. It contends that the cooperation between North Korea and Iran is cause for alarm, with North Korea routinely sending nuclear technicians to Iran to provide “necessary guidance and technical supplies.”
According to the newspaper, Tehran is three months away from becoming a “threshold nuclear state,” which is enough time needed to produce uranium for a nuclear bomb.
“It should be mentioned that Iran has already confirmed that it has produced a gram and a microgram [sic] of plutonium, which is used to make a nuclear bomb, at its Arak heavy water reactors.”
The Saudi daily argues that Tehran will follow in the footsteps of North Korea which violated the agreement signed with the US in 1994. After it was discovered that North Korea was secretly enriching uranium, the country expelled UN inspectors and detonated the nuclear bomb.
“Today, the superpowers, led by the US, can do nothing in the face of a nuclear nation.”
The article further states that the US is indirectly protecting Kim Jong-un since “anarchy or upheaval in that nuclear nation could cause real damage to international security.” The fear is that Tehran will end up with the same “protection” even if the superpowers outwardly condemn it.
The editorial concludes, “The Western countries, led by the US, will find themselves condemning a theocratic regime that calls for their downfall and yearns for their death, while the Gulf states will face a fate similar to that of South Korea, becoming hostages of American protection. Will anyone learn this lesson?”