US President Donald Trump has thrown a fresh hurdle into Washington’s newly announced civilian nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia, saying the agreement now hinges on Riyadh recognising Israel and joining the Abraham Accords. The move injects immediate uncertainty into a pact that only a day earlier had been presented as a major diplomatic and commercial breakthrough.
Trump said on Truth Social that the deal “will be approved” but is “totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords,” adding that there would be “no enrichment of material.” The White House said the president had long raised the issue with Saudi officials and insisted the kingdom was aware of the condition, even though it was not included in Wednesday’s announcement.
Saudi Arabia has repeatedly said it will not normalise ties with Israel without a pathway to Palestinian statehood, a position that has only hardened since the Gaza war. That stance puts the latest US demand on a collision course with Riyadh’s long-held red line and could complicate one of Trump’s key Middle East goals.
The nuclear agreement had been described as a strategic win for Saudi Arabia and a potentially lucrative opportunity for US companies. It also came as the Trump administration has intensified pressure on Iran over its nuclear ambitions, making the Saudi deal politically and regionally sensitive from the outset.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the condition, saying Saudi recognition would mark a “historic leap” for peace in the Middle East. But analysts warned that trying to force normalisation could backfire, especially given how consistently Riyadh has tied the issue to Palestinian statehood. The kingdom, they noted, is unlikely to reverse course simply because Washington wants a diplomatic victory.
The deal itself remains subject to congressional review, with lawmakers given 90 session days to examine it. According to the Reuters account, the agreement would allow Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium and build reactors using US technology, while a two-year feasibility study would assess the enrichment component. That aspect has already drawn scrutiny from critics who fear it could one day open a pathway to weapons capability.
US officials sought to calm those concerns, stressing that any civil nuclear arrangement would contain safeguards to prevent diversion toward military use. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the deal would meet the highest standards of safety and nonproliferation, while the White House emphasised that the president remains the final dealmaker.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said it was awaiting a request from Washington and Riyadh to put verification measures in place. Until those details are settled, and until the normalisation question is resolved, the deal that was billed as a breakthrough now looks more like a test of whether the US can align nuclear cooperation, regional diplomacy and nonproliferation in one package.
The bigger question is whether Trump’s latest condition creates leverage or merely raises the odds of deadlock. For now, Saudi Arabia’s nuclear ambitions, Israel’s diplomatic agenda and Washington’s regional strategy are all locked in the same room, and none of them appears ready to move first.
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