Trump Administration Clears Saudi Nuclear Deal Without Enrichment Safeguards
The Trump administration has finalized a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia that opens the door to the Kingdom enriching uranium on its own soil, forgoing the strictest nonproliferation conditions that arms control advocates had pushed for. The deal, structured as a 30-year “123 Agreement,” is designed to give US companies a central role in building out Saudi nuclear infrastructure, including a domestically sited enrichment facility, while generating billions of dollars in contracts for the American nuclear industry.
Unlike the 2009 US-UAE accord, which required Abu Dhabi to forswear enrichment and plutonium reprocessing in exchange for nuclear cooperation, the Saudi agreement does not bind Riyadh to that so-called “Gold Standard.” Instead, the deal envisions a joint US-Saudi study on the economics of domestic fuel production, with enrichment or reprocessing potentially following from that review. Inspection requirements are also reported to be lighter than in prior US nuclear cooperation agreements.
Congressman John Garamendi (CA-08), co-chair of the bicameral Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control Working Group and a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, condemned the decision. Garamendi said the deal moves the world closer to further nuclear proliferation and an arms race in the Middle East, and noted he had urged in November that any civilian nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia include Gold Standard safeguards, including a clear commitment to forgo enrichment and reprocessing on Saudi soil. He said the administration’s choice not to require those safeguards leaves open the possibility that Saudi Arabia could eventually build a nuclear weapons program, calling it a consequential mistake.
The announcement lands in the middle of the ongoing US-Israeli war against Iran, launched in part to prevent Tehran from using enriched uranium to build a weapon. That context sharpens the proliferation concern: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has previously said the Kingdom would pursue nuclear weapons capability if Iran obtained one, and Riyadh’s parallel defense pact with nuclear-armed Pakistan, under which Islamabad’s arsenal has been described as available to the Saudis if needed, adds another variable to a region where Israel has long been the sole acknowledged nuclear power.
The agreement still faces a congressional review period, during which lawmakers could pursue a bipartisan disapproval resolution to block it from taking effect. Whether that effort gains traction will determine if the deal’s enrichment provisions survive intact or are renegotiated under legislative pressure.