‘The Egyptians are looking for a nuclear program. The GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) are looking at one, and we are actually looking at nuclear power for peaceful and energy purposes. We’ve been discussing it with the West,’ he said.

‘I personally believe that any country that has a nuclear program should conform to international regulations and should have international regulatory bodies that check to make sure that any nuclear program moves in the right direction,’ he told the liberal daily.

‘The rules have changed on the nuclear subject throughout the whole region. Where I think Jordan was saying, ‘we’d like to have a nuclear-free zone in the area,’ after this summer, everybody’s going for nuclear programs,’ the Jordanian king said.

Israel is considered the sole, albeit undeclared, nuclear power in the region. But following Iran’s development of a nuclear project, several Arab countries have announced their desire to acquire nuclear technology.