The United States and Saudi Arabia on July 22 announced a landmark deal that would establish a civilian nuclear programmed in the kingdom, but which critics fear could pave the way to enrichment and an atomic arms race.
The move came as the U.S. fights a war with Iran that began in large part over concerns about Tehran’s nuclear program, still a key point of contention in now-stalled peace talks.
The deal is set to generate billions of dollars for American companies and is seen as a major win for Iran’s longtime regional rival, granting it access to nuclear technology without normalizing ties with Israel.
Washington had sought in recent years to condition any nuclear agreement and defense pact on normalization with Israel.
Critics have insisted the deal, the text of which was not immediately made public, could precipitate a nuclear race in a region already battered by war.
One provision would potentially see U.S. companies build a uranium enrichment facility in Saudi Arabia, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Defending the deal, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on July 23 that the landmark nuclear cooperation pact with Saudi Arabia would result only in a peaceful, civilian atomic program.
“Suffice it to say that any agreement that we’re going to make with any country in the world on civil nuclear energy is going to be one that will have safeguards in place to ensure that it can’t be turned into a weapons program,” Rubio said on the sidelines of a Southeast Asian summit in Manila.
“Saudi Arabia seeks to have a peaceful, civil nuclear program,” he told reporters, noting a similar deal was in place with the United Arab Emirates.
For Allison Minor, the director of the Project for Middle East Integration at the Atlantic Council, Washington is sending a warning to Tehran as negotiations stall, while rewarding a major ally that has grown wary of U.S. security assurances.
“By keeping the door open for uranium enrichment inside Saudi Arabia, the nuclear deal sends a powerful message to Tehran,” she said.
The deal will be submitted to Congress for review, but the Republican-controlled legislature is unlikely to block its implementation.
U.S. lawmakers from both parties and Israeli officials have previously voiced opposition to such a project over fears Saudi Arabia could eventually convert it to develop nuclear weapons.
“Trump claims his war on Iran is about stopping an authoritarian country from enriching nuclear fuel,” left-wing U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders wrote on X.
Riyadh, like Tehran, has long been adamant about its right to pursue a civilian nuclear program. Last year it signed a mutual defense pact with nuclear-armed Pakistan.
The U.S. signed a nuclear agreement with the neighboring United Arab Emirates in 2009, although that country does not enrich its own uranium.
