Trump: Saudi Nuclear Deal Will Be Approved Only If Riyadh Joins the Abraham Accords

President Donald Trump said today (Thursday) that approval of the civilian nuclear agreement signed between the United States and Saudi Arabia depends on the kingdom joining the Abraham Accords and advancing normalization with Israel. In a post he published on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump addressed the agreement directly and stressed that, from his perspective, it cannot move forward unless that condition is met.

"The civilian nuclear agreement (there will be no enrichment of material!) signed between the U.S. Department of Energy and Saudi Arabia, which relates solely to non-military uses, like those that already exist in Iran, the United Arab Emirates (and other countries), will be approved — but it is totally contingent on Saudi Arabia joining the highly respected and very successful Abraham Accords," Trump wrote.

Later in the post, the president added: "The United States does not object to civilian nuclear facilities (without enrichment of material). Thank you for your attention to this matter! President Donald J. Trump."

Trump’s remarks came a day after the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal reported, citing senior U.S. officials, that the president had approved a historic nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia. The report said the deal is expected to allow the establishment of a civilian nuclear program in the kingdom and could even open the door in the future to uranium enrichment on Saudi soil.

The New York Times reported that the agreement was not conditioned on normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel. But now, in the post he published, Trump presented a different position and made clear that, in his view, approval of the agreement is "totally contingent" on Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords.

According to the published details, the agreement between Washington and Riyadh is expected to remain in effect for 30 years and is estimated to be worth tens of billions of dollars. Its goal is to give American companies a central role in developing Saudi Arabia’s civilian nuclear infrastructure, thereby pushing foreign competitors out of the project.