As United States President Barack Obama prepares to meet with representatives of the Gulf States on Thursday, The New York Times revealed  that Saudi officials claim they will equal Iran's nuclear capabilities.

According to the newspaper’s article published Wednesday that quoted an anonymous Saudi official, the House of Saud will react to an eventual Iran nuclear agreement by raising its own nuclear capacity.

The report also cites a former Saudi intelligence offical who has been touring the world, promoting the same idea.

“Whatever the Iranians have, we will have, too,” said Prince Turki bin Faisal, the 70-year-old former Saudi intelligence chief, during a recent conference in South Korea.

The Saudi Kingdom is suspected to already possess nuclear weapons. Intelligence agents and diplomats have claimed Riyadh has had nuclear weapons since 1998.

According to a report published by German magazine Cicero, the Pakistanis helped their Saudi partners acquire nuclear missiles and warheads, which are kept in a secret underground compound several miles away from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital.

Western intelligence officials also calculate Saudi Arabia has financed at least 60 percent of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program.

According to The Guardian, the Saudi Kingdom would have been seeking to acquire nuclear weapons since early 2000. It is widely believed that the kingdom and the Pakistanis have an arrangement of cooperation through which the Saudis can request an immediate shipment of nuclear arsenal.

Obama met with Saudi princes in the Oval Office  Wednesday ahead of Thusrday's meeting in Camp David with representatives of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Both Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States together with Israel – all traditional U.S. allies – oppose a nuclear agreement with Iran, and the issue is likely to be discussed during Thursday's meeting. 

The Gulf States have discussed a collective civil nuclear program of their own. The United Arab Emirates signed a deal with the U.S. several years ago to build nuclear power plants, but it is prohibited under that plan from enriching its own uranium.