Trump now conditions the nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia on Riyadh's recognition of Israel

WashingtonU.S. President Donald Trump has now said that the nuclear deal with the Saudis is subject to the Gulf monarchy adhering to the Abraham Accords. "It will be approved, but it is totally conditioned on Saudi Arabia adhering to the highly respected and successful Abraham Accords," he said this Thursday morning on Truth Social, where he stressed that "there will be no enrichment" of uranium. Trump pushed for the Abraham Accords during his first administration to normalize relations between Arab countries and Israel. While some states like Morocco and the United Arab Emirates joined, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and other major regional powers remain outside.

The announcement is a nod to his ally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had opposed the idea of the United States providing nuclear technology to Riyadh. In a statement released this morning, the Israeli leader stated that "Saudi Arabia's adherence to the Abraham Accords would be a historic leap towards peace in the Middle East." The relationship between Netanyahu and Trump is not at its best, strained by divergent interests in the Iran war, and granting a civilian nuclear program to the Saudis has every potential to generate even more discord in the marriage.

Israel is the only power in the region with a nuclear program that, moreover, is not supervised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Although they officially do not possess atomic weapons, it is estimated that Israel has an arsenal of about 90 nuclear warheads in its hands. The civilian nuclear cooperation agreement with the Saudis is civilian, but once the nuclear infrastructure for civilian use is developed, it is much easier to make the leap to the military field.

The White House has still not published the two documents, the 123 agreement and the bilateral security pact, which form the framework for nuclear cooperation between the US and Saudi Arabia. The Department of Energy's statement assures that there will be no uranium enrichment and that "nuclear safety, nuclear protection, and non-proliferation standards" will be maintained. However, information leaked to the press indicated that the agreement with Saudi Arabia was much looser and would not include on-the-ground monitoring of how the Gulf monarchy develops the program.

Now the text must go through Congress for review, a process during which the general public will probably be able to learn more details about the terms.