President Trump on Thursday said that the nuclear agreement the US and Saudi Arabia signed on Thursday will only move forward if Saudi Arabia normalizes relations with Israel, a statement that came after backlash from Israeli officials over the deal.
Trump also said the deal won’t involve nuclear enrichment, though US officials have said it could lead to uranium enrichment on Saudi soil, and that it would be “non-military,” citing Iran’s nuclear program as an example, appearing to acknowledge the fact that Tehran doesn’t have a nuclear weapons program.
“The Civil Nuclear Deal (There will be no enrichment of material!) being made between the United States Department of Energy and Saudi Arabia, which pertains only to non-military use such as the ones that Iran and UAE (and others) already have, will be approved, but is totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
“The United States is not opposed to Civil (Non-Enriched) Nuclear Facilities,” Trump added, appearing to conflate uranium enrichment with weapons proliferation despite the fact that several countries have an enrichment program and no nuclear weapons, including close US allies Germany and Japan.
There was no sign on Wednesday when the US Energy Department announced the US-Saudi nuclear deal that it hinged on Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords, and Saudi officials have maintained that the Kingdom won’t normalize relations with Israel until there’s a path toward a Palestinian state.
