July 23 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Thursday that a civil nuclear deal between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia is conditional on Riyadh joining the Abraham Accords to normalize relations with Israel.
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The U.S. and Saudi Arabia announced an agreement on Wednesday on civil nuclear power, letting the kingdom enrich uranium and build nuclear reactors using U.S. technology, without requiring the snap UN inspections that Washington has previously demanded from Iran. The deal has to pass the U.S. Congress to go into force.
“The Civil Nuclear Deal (There will be no enrichment of material!)… 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,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, referring to normalizing ties with Israel.
“The United States is not opposed to Civil (Non-Enriched) Nuclear Facilities,” Trump said.
The Saudi Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s post. Saudi Arabia’s longstanding position has been that it would not sign the Abraham Accords unless there was an agreement on a roadmap to Palestinian statehood.
The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed the Abraham Accords during Trump’s first term in 2020, breaking a longstanding taboo to become the first Arab states to recognize Israel in a quarter century. Morocco and Sudan followed suit.
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The Trump administration on Wednesday said the civil nuclear deal abides by nonproliferation agreements in the U.S. Atomic Energy Act, which are among the world’s strongest.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, said the agreement supports efforts to diversify energy sources, and includes the “highest international standards” of nuclear safety, security and nonproliferation.
The deal would let Saudi Arabia enrich uranium and reprocess nuclear waste, both of which are potential pathways to a nuclear weapon. The UAE agreed to forgo both when it signed a similar deal with the U.S. in 2009.
(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Toronto; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Michelle Nichols )
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