- The US and Saudi Arabia have signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement that must undergo congressional review.
- Independent reporting says the deal allows Saudi enrichment and reprocessing without requiring the IAEA Additional Protocol.
- President Donald Trump subsequently said there would be “no enrichment” and made the pact conditional on Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords.
A newly signed US-Saudi nuclear agreement has been thrown into uncertainty after President Donald Trump contradicted its reported terms and tied implementation to Riyadh normalising relations with Israel.
US energy secretary Chris Wright and Saudi energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman signed a so-called 123 agreement and an accompanying bilateral safeguards accord on Wednesday.
The US Department of Energy said the agreements would underpin a decades-long, multibillion-dollar partnership while giving American companies access to Saudi Arabia’s proposed nuclear programme.
“These agreements uphold the highest standards of nuclear safety and nonproliferation,” Wright said. The department has not published a detailed explanation of the enrichment, reprocessing or inspection provisions.
Reuters reported that the agreement permits Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium and reprocess spent fuel, activities that can support a civilian fuel cycle but also provide potential routes towards nuclear weapons material.
It does not require Riyadh to adopt the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Additional Protocol, which gives inspectors expanded access to information and undeclared sites. Saudi Arabia moved to a standard safeguards agreement last year but has not accepted the more intrusive protocol.
Hours after the agreement was announced, Trump said it would be approved only if Saudi Arabia joined the Abraham Accords and established formal relations with Israel.
“There will be no enrichment of material,” Trump wrote, adding that the agreement covered non-military use.
It remains unclear whether Trump was ruling out all domestic enrichment, referring only to highly enriched weapons-grade material or seeking to revise the signed agreement. Reactor fuel is normally enriched to below 6%, while weapons-grade uranium is enriched to around 90%.
Saudi Arabia has consistently said that normalisation with Israel would require a credible pathway to Palestinian statehood. That condition remains unacceptable to significant parts of Israel’s governing coalition, making Trump’s requirement a substantial political obstacle rather than a formality.
The safeguards issue is equally contentious. A Trump administration report previously sent to Congress indicated that a bilateral system would apply enhanced verification to sensitive areas involving US–Saudi cooperation. The Arms Control Association said its scope appeared narrower than an Additional Protocol, which would apply across the Saudi programme.
The agreement departs from the US arrangement with the UAE, under which Abu Dhabi renounced enrichment and reprocessing. Critics fear that providing Saudi Arabia with more permissive terms would weaken that “gold standard” and encourage other states to demand equal treatment.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has previously said the kingdom would pursue a nuclear weapon if Iran acquired one, giving the safeguards debate greater significance amid the continuing regional conflict.
The commercial prize is considerable. The approximately 30-year programme could support AP1000 reactor orders worth tens of billions of dollars for Westinghouse and its supply chain. Washington also wants to prevent Russian or Chinese suppliers from dominating an influential emerging nuclear market.
Congress will have 90 session days to consider the agreement. Both chambers can pass a resolution of disapproval, although overturning a presidential veto would require a two thirds majority.
The pact is therefore not yet a settled commercial opening. Its final value depends on three unresolved questions: whether enrichment is permitted, whether Congress accepts the safeguards and whether Saudi Arabia is prepared to link its energy programme to a diplomatic breakthrough with Israel.
