Trump Sends 30-Year Saudi Nuclear Agreement to Congress
The 30-year U.S.-Saudi nuclear accord has entered congressional review, opening a fight over uranium enrichment while Trump keeps normalization with Israel as a condition for implementation.
U.S. President Donald Trump has sent a 30-year nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia to Congress, formally opening a review of a deal that could reshape U.S. involvement in the kingdom’s civilian nuclear program.
The administration transmitted the accord to lawmakers on Monday, according to an official.
Trump has also retained a condition imposed after the agreement was negotiated and signed: Saudi Arabia must normalize relations with Israel before it can move forward.
Congress Takes Up the Deal
The submission begins a process required under U.S. law and is likely to intensify scrutiny of the agreement’s provisions on uranium enrichment and nuclear technology.
Blocking the accord would be difficult. Congress would need to pass a joint resolution and secure a two-thirds majority to overcome a potential presidential veto.
Trump officials announced the agreement last month, presenting it as a framework that would place American companies at the center of Saudi Arabia’s nuclear development while shutting out foreign competitors.
The Saudi embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Enrichment Becomes the Central Dispute
The most contentious element is the possibility that uranium enrichment could eventually take place inside Saudi Arabia.
Under the agreement, U.S. and Saudi officials would conduct a two-year study on whether it would be commercially viable for American companies to build an enrichment facility in the kingdom.
If the review concludes that domestic enrichment is warranted, U.S. companies would build the plant under an arrangement intended to prevent sensitive technology from being transferred to Saudi authorities.
Saudi officials say a civilian nuclear sector would let the kingdom use domestic uranium deposits for its energy needs, leaving more oil for export and increasing revenues.
Trump administration officials argue that American participation would provide safeguards ensuring the program remains peaceful.
Critics contend that permitting enrichment on Saudi territory could weaken longstanding efforts to prevent the wider spread of sensitive nuclear capabilities in the Middle East.
“Congress should oppose an agreement that opens the door to uranium enrichment on Saudi soil, even in a U.S.-operated plant, because it would end several decades of U.S. nonproliferation policy aimed at preventing the spread of sensitive nuclear fuel-making technology,” Andrea Stricker of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, told The Wall Street Journal.
Trump Keeps Normalization Condition
The agreement faces another political obstacle: Trump’s demand that Saudi Arabia join the Abraham Accords.
The requirement was announced last month after the nuclear agreement had already been negotiated and signed.
“The President’s position has not changed that the agreement will only move forward if Saudi Arabia joins the Abraham Accords,” an administration official said.
The 2020 accords were brokered by the U.S. and signed by the U.S., Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Saudi Arabia had moved closer to normalization during the Biden administration as part of a broader proposed arrangement that also included a U.S. defense pact and cooperation on civilian nuclear energy.
That process stalled after Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent military campaign in Gaza.
The nuclear agreement will now proceed through congressional scrutiny with both uranium enrichment and Trump’s normalization requirement hanging over its implementation.
