Trump ties Saudi nuclear deal to Abraham Accords, adding new wildcard to Middle East diplomacy

President Trump announced on July 23 that the freshly inked US-Saudi civilian nuclear cooperation agreement comes with a string attached: Saudi Arabia must join the Abraham Accords and normalize relations with Israel. The precondition, posted on Truth Social, wasn’t part of the original deal framework, which had been finalized just hours earlier. What the nuclear deal actually covers The agreement itself is narrowly focused on civilian nuclear energy development in Saudi Arabia. It explicitly prohibits uranium enrichment, a key concession designed to ease concerns from both the US nonproliferation establishment and Israel’s security apparatus. The enrichment prohibition is significant. It addresses the core fear that civilian nuclear programs can serve as stepping stones to weapons development. By agreeing to forgo enrichment entirely, Saudi Arabia would be accepting stricter terms than those in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which permitted limited enrichment activities. The deal as originally announced made no mention of the Abraham Accords. Trump’s Truth Social post introduced a precondition that appears to have surprised even some within the diplomatic apparatus. The White House c...