(PTI): Washington is having second thoughts about a nuclear deal with the UAE after a torture videotape involving an Abu Dhabi prince sent shock waves around the world.

The world reacted in shock to footage that showed Sheikh Issa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, son of the late UAE president and brother of the Abu Dhabi crown prince, sadistically torturing an Afghan grain dealer who had allegedly cheated in a business deal.

The victim was beaten with wooden planks with nails protruding from them, after which the prince poured salt on his bleeding wounds.

The video also shows the prince setting fire to the victim’s genitals, giving him electric shocks with a cattle prod, ramming desert sand into his mouth, and firing bullets around him with an automatic rifle.

Senior US officials speaking on the condition of anonymity told CNN on Thursday that the footage had prompted the Obama administration to shelve the ratification process of its nuclear deal with the UAE to protest the stark human rights violation.

Earlier in January, the Bush administration signed a controversial deal with the United Arab Emirates — the first of its kind between the US and a Middle Eastern country.

The nuclear deal — which would bring US atomic know-how to less than a hundred miles from Iran’s shores — was claimed to be a “powerful and timely” effort against Tehran’s uranium enrichment activities.

“The UAE’s approach to development of civil nuclear energy stands in direct contrast to Iran’s pursuit of nuclear capabilities incompatible with IAEA and UN Security Council resolutions,” the US State Department reasoned at the time.

The release of the torture tape, however, not only put a damper on US-UAE relations, it has prompted a campaign for the deal to be scrapped altogether.

Massachusetts Democrat James McGovern has urged US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to “place a temporary hold on further US expenditures of funds, training, sales or transfers of equipment or technology, including nuclear until a full review of this matter and its policy implications can be completed.”

He also asked that the United States deny any visa for travel to the United States by Sheikh Issa or his immediate family, including his 18 brothers, several of whom are ruling members of the UAE government.