Trump says the Saudi Arabia nuclear deal is below normal Israel – National relations
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that a new deal reached with Saudi Arabia on a civilian nuclear program would require the kingdom to repair relations with Israel through the Abraham Accords.
In a text on social media, the president of the Republic said that the agreement does not allow the enrichment of uranium. Non-proliferation experts have expressed concern that the agreement fails to include safeguards against weapons-grade uranium enrichment.
Trump's text said the agreement “will be approved, but subject to Saudi Arabia joining the highly respected and successful Abraham Accords.” He also added that the US “is not opposed to Nuclear (Non-Enriched) Nuclear sites.”
The Saudis have made it clear that normal relations with Israel will first require the establishment of a clear path to a Palestinian state. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed the idea of a Palestinian state as unable to protect his homeland.
The Saudi embassy in Washington declined to comment Thursday on Trump's assertion that the deal would require the kingdom to join the accords.
Netanyahu's office in a statement applauded the opportunity for Saudi Arabia to join these agreements as “a historic projection of peace in the Middle East.” The statement did not mention the agreement to strengthen the Saudi nuclear program.
Trump wants to build on the 2020 accords, which expand the number of Arab and Muslim-majority countries that have diplomatic ties with Israel. Saudi Arabia is the most important Arab power in the Middle East, and Trump believes that the kingdom's joining of agreements is essential to establishing long-term stability in the region.
The new nuclear deal announced Wednesday is expected to last 30 years and involve American firms in the development of the system. It could allow the construction of a uranium enrichment facility in Saudi Arabia following a joint US-Saudi study, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The agreement will be submitted to Congress for review, according to the US government and the Saudi government.
Get daily world news
Get daily Canadian news delivered to your inbox so you never miss the top stories of the day.
The agreement does not include the International Atomic Energy Agency's “additional protocol,” which would allow for more monitoring, testing and verification, according to a second person familiar with the decision.
The oil-rich nation's Ministry of Energy said on Wednesday that the agreement strengthens “efforts to diversify energy sources, develop advanced technologies, and expand opportunities for cooperation and investment in ways that serve the mutual interests of friendly countries.”
Enrichment is not an automatic path to a nuclear weapon – a nation must also be capable of other measures, including the use of synchronized high explosives, for example. But it opens the door to the use of weapons, which have raised concerns about Iran's program.
Executives say the deal is good for US firms
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters Thursday in Manila that the deal would ensure Saudi Arabia works with American companies instead of “competitors” building its own nuclear program. China, South Korea, France and Russia are among the alternative partners that Riyadh can look to.
“We're not the only show in town, but we're the best show in town,” Rubio said. “We want to make sure it's our companies that choose them.”
Trump has touted his campaign to extend the Abraham Accords – which re-established commercial ties between Israel and many other Arab and Muslim countries – as key to his plan to bring long-term stability to the Middle East. But the fallout from Israel's war on Gaza and the nearly 5-month-long war the US and Israel have waged against Iran has complicated Trump's push to expand the accords.
The accords have proved unpopular in some signatory countries such as Morocco and Bahrain, sparking widespread protests.
Nevertheless, the Trump administration still hopes that a deal with Saudi Arabia to join the alliance can be closed by the end of Trump's second term.
The deal is facing early scrutiny from Congress, Israel and nuclear experts
The White House and Saudi Arabia have not made public the text of the nuclear cooperation agreement, known as the “123 agreement,” and what the Trump administration described as a “bilateral defense agreement” signed Wednesday by US Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman.
But it is already facing scrutiny from Congress, some Israeli officials and nuclear experts.
As details of the deal emerged Wednesday, opposition on Capitol Hill and elsewhere began to simmer, with Republicans and Democrats both questioning the wisdom of the deal. In addition, mainstream analysts who have supported Trump's policies have questioned why the president offered Saudi Arabia such a deal without getting anything.
Then on Thursday, Trump suddenly announced that the deal was entirely dependent on the Saudis joining the accords.
The United Arab Emirates, a neighbor of Saudi Arabia, signed the 123 agreement with the US to build its nuclear power plant in Barakah with the help of South Korea. But the UAE has done so without seeking enrichment, something nonproliferation experts hold as the “gold standard” for nations seeking atomic energy.
Rubio, as a Republican senator representing Florida, supported a bipartisan proposal in 2018 that required Congress to approve any 123 agreement with Saudi Arabia. The bill was returned by the Democratic Alliance group of lawmakers in March but has not yet been passed into law.
Representative Brad Sherman, a California Democrat, co-sponsored with Rubio a 2018 bill that would have required approval from Congress for the nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia. He said he “misses Sen. Rubio,” arguing that Secretary Rubio appears to be taking a different position.
“I hope Sen. Rubio will come back to us and insist that Congress approve any deal,” Sherman said Wednesday at a House Foreign Affairs Committee meeting.
Price reported in Manila, Philippines. Associated Press writers Sam Metz in Jerusalem and Matthew Daly and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
© 2026 The Canadian Press
