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As part of “Cablegate,” WikiLeaks released a series of cables exposing distrust from other Middle Eastern nations about Iran’s nuclear weapons program. The reports were released on the website on Sunday.

Though Iran says its nuclear weapons program is for peaceful purposes, the cables suggest otherwise.

According to the cables, Ehud Barak, Israel’s defense minister, showed distrust of Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Barak told the U.S. that they only had a short period of time to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons before “any military solution would result in unacceptable collateral damage.”

These cables were sent at the beginning of 2009.

Other Middle Eastern nations, including Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman, allegedly view Iran as dangerous, as well. In a conversation with a White House official, Saudi Arabian King Abdullah said, “Iran’s goal is to cause problems. There is no doubt something unstable about them.”

A released cable from the United Arab Emirates also revealed tensions, particularly surrounding Iran’s nuclear weapons program. “If Iran goes nuclear, others in the region will move forward on the same track, and the nuclear non-proliferation treaty will completely break down,” the cable read.

Another cable, released earlier this year, stated that Iran received 19 nuclear weapons from North Korea.  According to a report, the missiles obtained could easily reach Western Europe or Moscow and could speed Iran’s development of nuclear missiles of their own.

In response to the released cables, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denied tensions in the Middle East, particularly over the nuclear weapons program. Ahmadinejad stated, “Regional countries are all friends with each other. Such mischief will have no impact on the relations of countries.”

Ahmadinejad went on to speculate that some part of the U.S. government fabricated the released documents. He suggested that the documents were created for “political goals.”

Some analysts, however, were skeptical of the alleged programs uncovered by the documents. William Beeman, author of "The 'Great Satan' vs. the 'Mad Mullahs': How the United States and Iran Demonize Each Other, said, “These dispatches … don't necessarily represent truth on the ground, and they frequently seem to represent posturing and the same kind of bluffing and chicanery that is the bread and butter of diplomatic negotiations. … Diplomatic assessments are only as good as the underlying information that prompts them.”

Several hundred thousand cables were released by WikiLeaks on Sunday. According to CNN, many of the cables were marked “Secret” by the U.S. Government.

These and other cables can be found on WikiLeaks’s website under Cablegate.

Reach reporter Jennifer Schultz here.

Follow reporter Jennifer Schultz on Twitter: @neon_jenn.

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