Washington (AFP) — — President Donald Trump on Thursday appeared to add a condition to a newly signed agreement with Saudi Arabia over a civilian nuclear program, saying the deal would require the kingdom to normalize its relations with Israel through the Abraham Accords.
When the deal was announced on Wednesday, neither the US Department of Energy nor the Saudi government said it was conditional on the kingdom’s relations with Israel.
Trump’s social media post the next day confirming that the agreement was conditional on the Saudis joining the agreements was unexpected and would almost certainly make finalizing the deal complicated. The agreements increased the number of Arab countries with a Muslim majority that establish diplomatic relations with Israel. Saudi Arabia’s accession would be a tremendous diplomatic achievement.
President Donald Trump arrives aboard Air Force One at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, in Marietta, Georgia.
AP Photo/Julia Demarie Nickinson
The Republican president also said that the agreement does not allow uranium enrichment. Nonproliferation experts have raised concerns that the deal failed to include guardrails to prevent uranium enrichment to weapons-grade levels.
Trump said the agreement “will be approved, but it is entirely contingent on Saudi Arabia joining the respected and very successful Abraham Accords.” He added that the United States “does not oppose (unenriched) civilian nuclear facilities.”
When asked by a reporter why this requirement was not mentioned in the initial announcement, White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt said the president is the “ultimate deal maker” and has called on Saudi Arabia to join the agreements “on numerous occasions.”
The Saudis have previously made clear that normalizing relations with Israel will first require establishing a clear path to establishing a Palestinian state. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the idea of establishing a Palestinian state as untenable for his country’s security.
The Saudi Embassy in Washington declined to comment on Thursday on Trump’s new assertions about the deal.
In a statement, Netanyahu’s office praised the possibility of Saudi Arabia joining the agreements, describing it as “a historic leap forward for peace in the Middle East.” The statement did not refer to the agreement to strengthen the Saudi civil nuclear program.
The president sought to build on the 2020 agreements
Trump sought to build on the 2020 agreements, which formalized trade relations between Israel and some Arab countries and Muslim-majority countries. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the most important Arab power in the Middle East, and Trump believes that the Kingdom’s accession to the agreements is critical to achieving long-term stability in the region.
The new nuclear agreement is expected to last for 30 years and include American companies in developing the program. A uranium enrichment facility could be allowed to be built in Saudi Arabia after a joint US-Saudi study, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The agreement is scheduled to be submitted to Congress for review, according to the US and Saudi governments.
The agreement does not include the International Atomic Energy Agency’s “Additional Protocol,” which would allow for greater monitoring, inspection and verification, according to another person familiar with the agreement.
The oil-rich kingdom’s Ministry of Energy said on Wednesday that the agreement enhances “efforts to diversify energy sources, develop advanced technologies, and expand opportunities for cooperation and investment in ways that serve the common interests of the two friendly countries.”
Enrichment is not an automatic path to a nuclear weapon, as the state must also master other steps, including the use of high explosives, for example. But it opens the door to armament, which has raised concerns about the Iranian program.
The administration says the deal is good for American companies
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters Thursday in the Philippine capital, Manila, that the agreement would ensure that Saudi Arabia works with American companies rather than “competitors” to build its civilian nuclear program. China, South Korea, France and Russia are among the alternative partners that Riyadh could look to.
“We’re not the only show in town, but we’re the best show in town,” Rubio said. “We want to make sure they choose our companies.”
Trump spoke of his efforts to extend the agreements, but the repercussions of the Israeli war in Gaza and the nearly five-month-long American and Israeli war against Iran have complicated his efforts.
The agreements proved unpopular among the public in some signatory countries such as Morocco and Bahrain, sparking widespread protests.
However, the Trump administration remains optimistic that an agreement can be reached with Saudi Arabia on joining the agreements by the end of Trump’s second term.
The agreement faces early scrutiny from Congress, Israel and nuclear experts
The White House and Saudi Arabia did not announce the text of the nuclear cooperation agreement known as the “123 Agreement,” in addition to what the Trump administration described as the “bilateral safeguards agreement” signed Wednesday by US Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman.
But it is already facing scrutiny from Congress, some Israeli officials and nuclear experts.
As details of the deal emerged on Wednesday, opposition on Capitol Hill and elsewhere began to grow, with Republicans and Democrats questioning the wisdom of the agreement. Additionally, conservative commentators who generally supported Trump’s policies questioned why the president would give Saudi Arabia such a deal without getting anything in return.
Then Trump suddenly announced on Thursday that the deal was entirely conditional on the Saudis joining the agreements.
The United Arab Emirates, a neighbor of Saudi Arabia, signed Agreement 123 with the United States to build the Barakah nuclear power plant with the help of South Korea. But the UAE did so without seeking enrichment, which non-proliferation experts consider the “gold standard” for countries wishing to obtain nuclear energy.
Rubio, as a Republican senator representing Florida, supported a 2018 bipartisan proposal calling for Congress to be required to approve any 123 agreement with Saudi Arabia. A group of Democratic lawmakers reintroduced the bill in March, but it was not passed into law.
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Price mentioned is from Manila, Philippines. Associated Press writers Sam Metz in Jerusalem and Matthew Daly, Seung-Min Kim and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
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