Efforts to spark nuclear arms race in region worries UAE

Dubai: President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan said the UAE will abide by international sanctions against developing nuclear weapons.

Shaikh Khalifa's statement, carried by WAM news agency on Saturday, comes amid Western pressure on Iran to curb its controversial nuclear programme.

"We in the UAE and the Gulf are worried over any designs to ignite a nuclear arms race in the region," Shaikh Khalifa was quoted as saying by WAM.

Shaikh Khalifa also said that although the UAE recognizes the right of every state to the peaceful use of nuclear energy, it supports sanctions on errant countries.

"The UAE will abide by any international sanction imposed [on Iran] just like we did with the international sanctions on Iraq during the former regime," he said.

He also said that the UAE government is "following the current efforts to solve the Iranian nuclear programme crisis in a peaceful and satisfactory way."

The UAE recently signed a nuclear cooperation with France to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. He said other agreements were signed with the US and the UK.