The Iran nuclear framework deal was touted by President Obama as an agreement that would head off a nuclear arms race in the Gulf.

According to this story in the Jerusalem Post, the deal has apparently had exactly the opposite effect.

Tensions in the region have escalated in light of the framework agreement the United States and the other world powers have made with the Islamic Republic, with Saudi Arabia increasingly concerned with the repercussions of a deal that may see the easing of sanctions leaving Iran more legroom to continue developing weapons of mass destruction.

The strain in relations was evident when  Saudi Arabia's King Salman skipped a major summit in Washington this week, along with the leaders of three other Gulf nations.

"For the Saudis the moment has come," The Sunday Times quoted a former US defense official as saying.

"There has been a long-standing agreement in place with the Pakistanis and the House of Saud has now made the strategic decision to move forward."

Saudi Arabia is skeptical that any final, comprehensive deal with Iran will curb its nuclear ambitions, with the West's engagement  having actually "opened the door to nuclear proliferation," a military source told The Sunday Times

The agreement allows Iran to keep 5,000 uranium enrichment centrifuges at Natanz, and another 1,000 centrifuges at its underground enrichment facility in Fordow. 

According to one senior British official who also spoke with The Sunday Times, military leadership from all Western countries "assume the Saudis have made the decision to go nuclear."

"The fear is that other Middle Eastern powers — Turkey and Egypt — may feel compelled to do the same and we will see a new, even more dangerous, arms race."

I blame Bush. Obama will, so there you have it. Since the president began this quixotic quest for a nuclear deal, he has been warned time and time again by people in and out of government that lifting sanctions on Iran would result in a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. Experts on both sides of the ideological divide have made this point, so it's not as if this news about a nuke sale to Saudi Arabia comes as a big surprise.

The frightening thing is if President Obama truly believes his own propaganda about the Iran nuclear deal and thinks he really has the Iranians in a box with sanctions "snapping back" if the Iranians are caught cheating. We know now that this would be an impossibility since Russia has said it wouldn't go along with the plan. 

The Saudis have cooly assessed the situation and decided our president is full of crap. They can't afford to believe in Obama's infallibility. After all, it's not his hide on the line. He will leave office in 2017, no doubt praised as the man who brought peace in our time.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Middle East is lining up at Pakistan's (and probably North Korea's) nuclear bazzarre.