Trump approves nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia that could allow enrichment
President Trump has, according to reports, approved a civilian nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia that could allow the kingdom to enrich uranium. Critics see it as a break with US nonproliferation policy. The agreement replaces the usual IAEA oversight with a bilateral arrangement.
According to consistent reports from AP and CNN, President Trump approved a draft for a civilian nuclear deal that could enable Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium on its own soil. That would drop the gold standard set in the 2009 US-UAE agreement, which required forgoing enrichment and reprocessing as well as the IAEA Additional Protocol. Critical voices such as Middle East Eye and US lawmakers warn that the deal paves a possible path to the atomic bomb for the kingdom and replaces international controls with weaker bilateral oversight. Conservative US reports such as the Wall Street Journal read the step as a major win for Riyadh. Israeli outlets such as Haaretz point to the security-policy consequences for the region. The agreement has not yet been submitted to Congress for the mandated 90-day review. Saudi Arabia had rejected such conditions for years, citing Iran's nuclear program. How strict the intended safeguards will actually be is still open.