Simply pop the money spent on arms into state-funded mandatory secular education in the ME, and the regions problems would disappear almost entirely on their own. The single biggest problem facing the area is the prevalence of madrasas, which offer free education, but instead radicalize their students and plunge them into even deeper ignorance. If free state-sponsored secular education became mandatory and was offered everywhere, the madrasas would disappear, and the region would be able to advance peaceably. So why is there no one in the Middle East spearheading a push for mandatory education instead of weapons-spending?

there are no reason whatsoever to think iran is interested in developing nuclear weapons, other than, of course, american propaganda.

First off any "royalty" has no saying what so ever in politics. This is not middle ages, and no "inherent" power is power, power of decision/policymaking may be only delegated by democratic elections so whatever she has to say is just as relevant as any John or Jane Doe on the street. Second, nuclear weapons HAVE PREVENTED any direct conflict and outright fullscale war between major powers like USA, China, Russia/USSR, India, Pakistan etc. When anyone sais that world would somehow be more peaceful without nuclear weapons they obviously have no idea what so ever about this weapon`s deterring power especially if both conflicting sides posess it in adequate numbers. Had Russia not had nukes it would have been invaded right after 1990 because its military and government was in a disarray and ONLY a retaliatory nuclear strike prevented NATO from using the kind of tactics that they employed in F.Y.R. When these people open their mouth it`s beyond ridiculous, the same situation can be compared to disarming civil population - when there are no privately owned guns then the only ones who have them are police and criminals. If these people seriously wish to have not one but many large conventional wars the likes of which leveled Europe in WW2 then ok sure go right ahead and ban nukes. Bottom line is this: A nation in posession of thermonuclear weapons will NEVER EVER be attacked on a large scale by any single nations or an alliance of nations. EVER! And no "queen" of a country that barely keeps a lid on its militant tribal population should as much as suggest to large powers what and how they myst do.