Washington puts Abraham Accords caveat on Saudi nuclear pact

Just one day after the US and Saudi Arabia signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement, US President Donald Trump bolted on a condition that could unravel it. The agreement, Trump said, “will be approved, but is totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords,” and that there would be “no enrichment” of nuclear material. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the normalization demand is now a requirement: “If they don't join the Abraham Accords, the deal is off.”

This isn’t the first time the US has tried to use business (and this agreement in particular) to push Riyadh to normalize ties with Tel Aviv. It also wouldn’t be the first time Riyadh hasn’t played ball. Under the Biden administration, Saudi Arabia maintained its refusal to recognize Israel and establish diplomatic relations with the country without an “irreversible and time-bound path” to the creation of a Palestinian state, which the Netanyahu government has ruled out, all the more so amid the Gaza war.

Israel is reacting selectively: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office publicly welcomed the potential normalization as “an historic leap forward” while his political rivals have been vocal about their qualms with the deal. Naftali Bennett, who is looking to return as Israel’s prime minister in elections later this year, called it “a serious strategic failure that endangers our security.” Former defense minister Avigdor Lieberman also warned the agreement would end with Saudi Arabia developing a nuclear weapon, urging Tel Aviv to lobby the US Congress to kill it.

What’s next: Washington is in an active war to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program while greenlighting a Saudi one, feeding arms-race fears. The pact heads to Congress, which would need a veto-proof majority to block it.