US-Saudi Arabia nuclear deal conditioned on Kingdom joining Abraham Accords, says Donald Trump

President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the civil nuclear deal between the United States (US) and Saudi Arabia hinges on whether the Kingdom joins the Abraham Accords. He further stressed there will no “enrichment of material” and only civil nuclear activities will be covered under the deal.

“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,” he said. 

“The United States is not opposed to Civil (Non-Enriched) Nuclear Facilities,” Trump said in his post on Truth Social.

Trump’s statement comes barely a day after Washington announced a historic deal with Riyadh to establish a civilian nuclear programme in the kingdom. The deal is considered to be a huge victory for Saudi Arabia, which is long-time rival of Iran in the region. 

However, an AFP report has pointed that the deal carries risks and could spark a nuclear race in the Middle East, which has been battered by repeated conflict over the years.

Saudi Arabia’s position on Abraham Accords

Coming to Abraham Accords, it is a set of agreements that were proposed during Trump’s first tenure in 2020. They were aimed at normalising ties between Arab nations and Israel, and establish a bilateral relationship between them.

Till now, only four countries have signed the Abraham Accords: the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.

Saudi Arabia has remained away from the Abraham Accords and said that joining the agreement requires establishing a path to peace between Israel and Palestine. It proposes that an independent Palestinian state should be established before it decides to join the Abraham Accords.

Saudi Arabia, though, was in discussions with the US to join the accords, but the discussions halted after Israel-Hamas war began in 2023. Since then, the Kingdom has been seeking a US security pact and remains firm that the war in Gaza must come to a halt.

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