The US makes public the nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia
Within the deal there is a "bilateral" non-proliferation pact, according to the statement issued by the Department of Energy
WashingtonThe Donald Trump administration announced this Wednesday that the United States has agreed with Saudi Arabia that it can enrich its own uranium. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, there are two documents: one for the nuclear cooperation agreement – dubbed "123 agreement" – and another bilateral one on security pacts for a program that is to last "decades". The announcement was imminent after several U.S. media outlets had reported on the agreement between Riyadh and Washington.
The Department of Energy has broadly explained the benefits of this agreement for U.S. companies, but has not released the full document with the fine print. The statement assures that the "two agreements also contribute to the security of the United States and the region by maintaining high standards of nuclear safety, nuclear protection, and non-proliferation, and by strengthening the United States' competitive advantage in civil nuclear technology.
The text will now be sent to Congress for review, a process during which the general public will likely learn more details about the terms.
Despite these claims, previous leaks to the press highlighted how, unlike previous nuclear deals, the Gulf monarchy had achieved more lenient conditions in terms of inspections and oversight. One of the reasons for this change right now is that apparently both Russia and China have been knocking on Riyadh's door, and the White House did not want to be left out.
The objective is to strengthen the alliance between the two countries, especially under the Trump administration. Since returning to the White House, the Republican has treated the Gulf petrostates with kid gloves. The US leader dedicated his presidential trip to making a "tour for Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. It was then, at the beginning of the year, that the Saudis pledged to invest 600 billion dollars in the US, of which 142 billion would be for the purchase of weapons.
But the investments are not just a gesture of goodwill between allied countries, but a pat on the back between two clans that have already had mixed businesses since the eighties. Trump's relationship with the Saudis dates back to 1987, when he bought a $29 million yacht commissioned for arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, cousin of the murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Later, in the nineties, the Republican sold both the yacht and a part of the New York City Plaza hotel to the Saudi prince, Al Waleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
The most recent episode took place last November, when the Trump Organization agreed to partner with the Saudi developer Dar Al Arkan to license the Trump brand for a hotel in the Maldives. The Trump name was also ceded for other projects by the developer, including the Trump Tower Jeddah and the Trump Plaza Jeddah, announced in July 2024 and September 2025, respectively.
