Saudi Arabia, a Sunni power, wants to stop Shia Iran from becoming an emerging or, worse still, a military nuclear power in the Gulf, and has taken the opposite side in Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. Israel opposes Iran’s becoming a military nuclear power – or even a nuclear-threshold state – and is willing to try to prevent this by military means.
欧洲与美国有着相似的立场，但欧洲人的态度却更加灵活。逊尼派强国沙特希望阻止伊朗成为海湾地区新兴核力量甚至是军事核力量，并且在叙利亚、黎巴嫩和伊拉克都采取了与伊朗对立的态度。以色列则反对伊朗成为军事核力量——甚至于基本核力量——而且不惜使用武力达到自己的目标。