Gulf Arab leaders are considering a joint civilian nuclear programme, a move that could heighten proliferation concerns in the oil-rich region.
The decision to order a study, announced at the end of a two-day summit in Riyadh attended by leaders from the Gulf Co-operation Council, comes at a time of mounting Arab concern over Iran's nuclear ambitions and growing regional power.
Abdul-Rahman al-Attiya, the secretary-general of the GCC, which includes Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, stressed that Gulf countries had the right to nuclear energy technology for peaceful purposes.
"The higher committee ordered a GCC-wide study to be carried out to create a joint programme of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, according to general standards and arrangements," he said.
The summit called on Iran to abide by its international obligations and urged Israel, which has the region's only nuclear arsenal - although undeclared - to sign up to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and open its facilities to inspection.
The GCC meeting followed a warning from Saudi Arabia on Friday that Israel's nuclear arms could prompt moderate Arab states to seek nuclear weapons.
Prince Muqrin bin Abdul-aziz, the kingdom's intelligence chief, told a conference in Bahrain that Israel's arsenal could "encourage moderate countries in the region to set up their own nuclear programmes, whet-her concealed or declared, aiming at creating military balance in the region".
Although Prince Muqrin's statement did not refer to Iran, analysts at the conference, a regional dialogue organised by the UK's International Institute for Strategic Studies, speculated that it was intended to warn Tehran as much as Israel.
Iran insists its programme is designed for peaceful energy production but western governments suspectthe aim is to developnuclear arms.
United Nations Security Council members are considering imposing mild sanctions against Iran to force it to suspend its uranium-enrichment activities.
Several pro-western Arab countries - most recently Egypt - have expressed interest in developing nuc-lear technology, raising fears of an arms race in a region caught up in a struggle between Sunni Arab regimes and Shia Iran.
Tehran has expanded its influence in the Middle East, from Iraq to Syria and Lebanon, where the Shia Hizbollah movement is seeking to topple an Arab and western-backed government through sustained street protests.
Speaking in Bahrain on Saturday, Manouchehr Mottaki, the Iranian foreign minister, called on his neighbours to end their reliance on foreign powers and join Iran in a regional security arrangement.
