Trump ties US-Saudi civilian nuclear deal to Riyadh joining Abraham Accords

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that a previously announced civilian nuclear agreement between the United States and Saudi Arabia is subject to an important new condition: Riyadh must join the Abraham Accords and establish diplomatic relations with Israel. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote that the deal “will be approved, but is totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords.” He also emphasized that the agreement pertains only to the civilian use of nuclear facilities, “such as the ones that Iran and the UAE (and others) already have.”

The announcement caused confusion, as the nuclear deal itself had earlier been presented as a standalone, already-agreed project. The United States and Saudi Arabia had announced what was described as a landmark agreement to establish a civilian nuclear program in the kingdom. According to reports, the deal is structured to last around 30 years and could offer U.S. companies significant opportunities to participate in the development of Saudi Arabia's nuclear energy sector.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had previously said the deal would still need to go through congressional approval. This suggests that even after a political agreement between Washington and Riyadh, further formal and legal hurdles remain before the agreement can take full effect.

Saudi Arabia has repeatedly made clear in the past that it will not sign the Abraham Accords — the 2020 framework under which several Arab states normalized relations with Israel — unless there is a credible and irreversible path toward Palestinian statehood. This position has been reiterated multiple times by Saudi officials and is considered a central precondition for any normalization with Israel.

Trump's new condition therefore directly ties the nuclear deal to one of the region's most difficult and long-unresolved conflicts. Observers see this as an additional diplomatic lever that could put pressure on both Israel and Saudi Arabia to show movement on the Palestinian issue, though it remains unclear whether and how quickly both sides could reach a compromise.

The planned nuclear cooperation itself was already facing scrutiny even before being linked to the Abraham Accords. Nonproliferation experts have reportedly raised concerns that the agreement lacks sufficient safeguards to prevent uranium enrichment to weapons-grade levels. Such concerns carry particular political weight given the ongoing tensions between the United States and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program.

In Israel, Trump's announcement triggered domestic political controversy. Opposition politicians described the development as a major setback for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, arguing that it signals Saudi recognition of Israel now hinges more on external U.S. conditions than on direct Israeli-Saudi negotiations.

The case is also being closely watched internationally. South Korea, which has for years sought its own uranium enrichment capability for its nuclear program, sees the potential Saudi precedent as evidence that the U.S. may apply different standards to different partners in nuclear cooperation.

What remains unclear at this stage is the precise timeline going forward, the specific safeguard provisions that will be written into the final agreement, and whether Saudi Arabia, given its longstanding position, will actually accept the condition of joining the Abraham Accords. The situation is likely to generate continued diplomatic activity in both Washington and the region in the coming weeks.