President Donald Trump has said the US-Saudi civil nuclear agreement depends on Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords, while Riyadh maintains it first needs a roadmap to Palestinian statehood.
Washington, D.C. – Web Desk: US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that a civil nuclear agreement between the United States and Saudi Arabia is conditional on the kingdom joining the Abraham Accords, while making clear that any deal would not involve enrichment of nuclear material.
The United States and Saudi Arabia had earlier reached an agreement on civil nuclear power that would allow the kingdom to enrich uranium and build nuclear reactors using American technology, without the snap UN inspection requirements Washington has previously demanded from Iran. Writing on Truth Social, Trump said the civil nuclear arrangement applies only to non-military use, similar to programs already in place in Iran and the UAE, but stressed that final approval remains entirely dependent on Saudi Arabia joining what he described as the successful Abraham Accords framework for normalising ties with Israel.
Trump added that the United States has no objection to non-enriched civil nuclear facilities, reinforcing that Washington’s support hinges specifically on Riyadh’s participation in the accords rather than on the nuclear technology itself.
Saudi Arabia’s longstanding position, however, has been that it will not sign the Abraham Accords unless there is an agreed roadmap toward Palestinian statehood. The Saudi Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s statement, and Riyadh has not signaled any shift from its established stance.
The Abraham Accords were first signed during Trump’s first term in 2020, when the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain became the first Arab states in a quarter century to normalise relations with Israel. Morocco and Sudan later joined the framework, though Saudi Arabia, the region’s largest economy, has so far remained outside it.
The Trump administration said on Wednesday that the civil nuclear deal complies with nonproliferation requirements under the US Atomic Energy Act, among the strictest in the world. Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, has said the agreement supports its efforts to diversify its energy sources and includes the highest international standards for nuclear safety, security, and nonproliferation. Under the terms outlined, the deal would allow Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium and reprocess nuclear waste.
With Riyadh’s position on Palestinian statehood unchanged and Washington now explicitly tying the nuclear agreement to Abraham Accords membership, the deal’s path forward remains uncertain, adding a new layer of complexity to the broader US push for regional normalisation.
