Trump: Saudi Nuclear Deal Contingent on Abraham Accords

Istanbul (ANTARA) - US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that a nuclear cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia would depend on Riyadh joining the Abraham Accords.

“The Civil Nuclear Agreement (there will be no enrichment of material!) made between the United States Department of Energy and Saudi Arabia, which relates solely to non-military use, as Iran and the UAE (and other countries) already possess, will be approved,” Trump wrote on the Truth Social platform.

Trump said the agreement “is entirely dependent on Saudi Arabia joining the highly respected and successful Abraham Accords”, adding that the US is “not opposed to Civil Nuclear Facilities (Non-Enrichment)”.

The Abraham Accords are normalisation agreements signed between Israel and several Muslim-majority countries during Trump’s first term in office.

Four countries have so far joined the peace agreement: Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates.

Earlier the same day, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the deal would go through congressional approval and would include safeguards.

“Any agreement we are going to make with any country in the world regarding civilian nuclear energy will have safeguards in place to ensure that it cannot be turned into a weapons programme,” Rubio told reporters in the Philippines.

The US Department of Energy said on Wednesday (22/7) that the US and Saudi Arabia had signed a nuclear cooperation agreement.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman signed the peaceful nuclear cooperation agreement, known as the 123 Agreement, along with a bilateral safeguards agreement, the US government agency said in its official statement.