Sunni-led Arab states, particularly Saudi Arabia, are anxiously waiting to see whether Shiite Iran will have the potential to develop nuclear weapons. Such an eventuality would introduce major security risks for Saudi Arabia, which doesn’t want to see Iran’s influence expand in the region.

Saudi Arabia has taken strong action in both Iraq and Yemen in recent days, fighting ISIS forces in the former and Houthi rebel forces in the latter. The Jerusalem Post’s Ariel Ben Solomon points out that it “may not have been a coincidence that the Sunni regional powers’ united military action to counter the Iranian-backed Houthi rebel forces in Yemen occurred as the Iranian nuclear talks reach zero hour” (“Saudis Would Develop Own Nuclear Program in Reaction to Nuclear Iran,” April 2, 2015). Saudi Arabia thus ironically joins Israel among the strongest voices against Iran possibly becoming a nuclear power.

A major consequence of allowing a nuclear Iran would be the potential for a nuclear Saudi Arabia. Ben Solomon’s article continues: “From the point of view of Gulf states, ‘a nuclear agreement means that the Sunni Arab states will take security measures into their own hands’ . . . Saudi Defense Minister Prince Muhammad bin Salman told a visiting congressman this week [at the beginning of April] that the Saudis need more weapons in order to deal with Iran.”

The Middle East has long been a powder keg of conflict, violence and unrest. Adding multiple nuclear-armed states to this volatile mix could have catastrophic consequences.

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned in his speech before the U.S. Congress in early March, a bad deal allowing Iran to develop nukes would “spark a nuclear arms race in the most dangerous part of the planet . . . A region where small skirmishes can trigger big wars would turn into a nuclear tinderbox” (“The Complete Transcript of Netanyahu’s Address to Congress,” The Washington Post, March 3).

And that could lead to the dire conditions mentioned in Matthew 24:

“For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved [alive]; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened” (Matthew 24:21-22).

Be alert to what is happening in the world around you and to your own spiritual condition before God as the times become increasingly perilous. (Sources: The Jerusalem Post, The Washington Post.)