Trump Conditions Saudi Nuclear Deal on Kingdom Joining Abraham Accords

Key Facts

Published: July 23, 2026

• Trump said the U.S.-Saudi nuclear agreement is contingent upon Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords and normalizing relations with Israel.
• The president insisted the Saudi program must remain civilian and prohibit domestic uranium enrichment.
• Israeli political leaders and nuclear experts warned that insufficient safeguards could fuel a dangerous Middle East arms race.

President says U.S.-backed program must remain civilian and prohibit uranium enrichment as Israeli leaders warn of a regional nuclear arms race

by Emmitt Barry, Worthy News Washington D.C. Bureau Chief

WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – President Donald Trump said Thursday that a landmark civilian nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia will move forward only if the kingdom joins the Abraham Accords and formally normalizes relations with Israel.

Trump’s announcement appeared to add a major diplomatic condition to an agreement unveiled one day earlier by the U.S. Department of Energy, which initially made no public mention of Saudi-Israeli normalization.

“The agreement pertains only to non-military use,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that it would be “totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords.”

Trump also said the United States supports civilian nuclear facilities but not Saudi uranium enrichment.

“The United States is not opposed to Civil (Non-Enriched) Nuclear Facilities,” the president wrote.

Decades-Long Nuclear Partnership

The Energy Department announced Wednesday that Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman had signed a peaceful nuclear cooperation agreement, commonly known as a Section 123 agreement.

Such agreements are required under the U.S. Atomic Energy Act before significant American nuclear materials, equipment or technology can be transferred to another nation.

The department said the agreement would establish the legal foundation for a “decades-long, multi-billion-dollar partnership” while giving American companies broad access to Saudi Arabia’s emerging nuclear energy industry.

Officials said the arrangement would support American manufacturers, workers and supply chains while helping Saudi Arabia meet its growing domestic energy demands.

The department also said an accompanying safeguards agreement would uphold high standards of nuclear safety, security and nonproliferation. The deal will now be submitted to Congress for review.

Trump’s statement, however, significantly changed the political stakes by tying final approval to what would be one of the most consequential diplomatic breakthroughs in the Middle East: formal peace between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Questions Over Enrichment and Inspections

The precise limitations contained in the agreement remained a point of dispute Thursday.

Trump explicitly described the proposed Saudi facilities as “non-enriched,” indicating that Riyadh would not be permitted to enrich uranium domestically.

However, Reuters reported that the agreement does not include the full “gold standard” safeguards found in the U.S. nuclear cooperation agreement with the United Arab Emirates. Those standards prohibit domestic uranium enrichment and the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel.

The agreement also reportedly does not require Saudi Arabia to adopt the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Additional Protocol, which permits more intrusive inspections and expanded verification of nuclear activities.

Those unresolved questions are expected to become a central issue during the congressional review.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has previously warned that the kingdom would seek a nuclear weapon if Iran obtained one—comments that have intensified concerns about transferring sensitive nuclear capabilities to Riyadh.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio sought to calm those fears, saying the United States would not enter into an agreement that creates a proliferation risk.

“The U.S. is not going to reach any agreement with any country in the world that leads to the risk of proliferation,” Rubio said.

Israeli Leaders Warn of Nuclear Arms Race

The agreement quickly drew criticism across Israel’s political spectrum, including from senior opposition leaders and some members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition.

Former Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman called the prospect of permitting uranium enrichment on Saudi soil “completely unacceptable.”

“Every military nuclear program starts off as a civilian program,” Liberman warned, arguing that the agreement could push the Middle East into “an insane nuclear arms race.”

Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett described the deal as a “grave strategic failure” and warned that no government can confidently predict Saudi Arabia’s political direction 10 or 20 years from now.

“What we need is fewer centrifuges in the Middle East, not more,” Bennett said.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid argued that preventing additional nuclear programs in the Middle East is a fundamental responsibility of the Israeli government, while former Defense Minister Benny Gantz said a Saudi civilian nuclear program should be tied to the construction of a broader moderate regional alliance.

Even some members of Netanyahu’s coalition voiced concern.

Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu said that while Saudi Arabia may presently be moving in a constructive direction, Israel cannot assume that its policies will remain unchanged indefinitely.

Prime Minister Netanyahu had not publicly commented on the agreement as of Thursday.

Abraham Accords Become Central Condition

Trump has repeatedly called for Saudi Arabia and other Arab and Muslim nations to join the Abraham Accords, which began during his first administration and established formal relations between Israel and several regional governments.

Saudi participation would dramatically expand the accords by bringing the Arab world’s most influential monarchy and the custodian of Islam’s two holiest sites into formal relations with Israel.

Riyadh, however, has maintained that normalization requires meaningful progress toward Palestinian statehood—an issue that remains deeply contested within Israel’s government.

The nuclear agreement now places those competing priorities into a single negotiation: American nuclear technology and long-term strategic cooperation in exchange for Saudi recognition of Israel.

The arrangement could strengthen a regional alliance against Iran, deepen American economic influence in Saudi Arabia and transform Israel’s position in the Arab world. But without enforceable restrictions and credible international inspections, critics warn that the same agreement could introduce another nuclear threshold state into one of the world’s most volatile regions.

Congress will now be tasked with determining whether Trump’s political assurances are fully reflected in the agreement’s legally binding language.

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