Trump ties Saudi nuclear deal to Israel normalization
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Trump said the US will not proceed with the civil nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia unless Riyadh normalizes ties with Israel under the Abraham Accords, telling reporters "it's time now that they do it" and that "nobody got out ahead" of him when the Energy Department announced the deal without the condition.
- The US and Saudi Arabia signed the nuclear cooperation deal on Wednesday, with the Trump administration calling it a "decades-long, multibillion-dollar partnership" that will now be submitted to Congress for review.
- Trump later contradicted US media reports suggesting the deal would allow Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium domestically, stating there "will be no enrichment of material."
- Saudi Arabia has long insisted it will not establish formal relations with Israel until there is a clear path for Palestinian statehood and has yet to respond to Trump's latest statement linking the two agreements.
- Marco Rubio said the deal would not lead to nuclear proliferation because US contractors would handle the project, with Westinghouse believed to be a major contractor.
Why it matters: Saudi Arabia's longstanding position tying normalization to Palestinian statehood places a 30-year, multibillion-dollar nuclear deal at an impasse, while Trump's contradictory public statements on uranium enrichment and the Energy Department's role expose internal administration disarray as the agreement heads to Congress.
