US removing guard rails from proposed Saudi nuclear deal, document says

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump has told Congress he is pursuing a civil nuclear pact with Saudi Arabia that does not include non-proliferation safeguards the US has long said would ensure the kingdom does not develop nuclear weapons, according to a copy of the document sent to Congress and reviewed by Reuters.

Mr Trump, a Republican, and former US president Joe Biden, a Democrat, have worked with Saudi Arabia on paths to building the first civil nuclear power plants for the kingdom.

The development comes amid fears of a new global nuclear arms race following the expiration earlier in February of the

last strategic arms limitation treaty

between Russia and the US, and China’s moves to expand its own nuclear arsenal.

Arms control groups, many Democrats and some leading Republicans – including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio when he served in the Senate – had insisted that any agreement come with guard rails. These include Saudi Arabia not having the ability to enrich uranium or to reprocess spent nuclear fuel – potential pathways to weapons. These were demands also made by successive US administrations.

They also insist that Saudi Arabia agree to the so-called Additional Protocol that grants the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency broad and more intrusive oversight of a country’s nuclear activities, such as the power to carry out snap inspections at undeclared locations. The Trump administration sent an initial report to leaders on some congressional committees in November, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, that it is required to send if it is not pursuing the Additional Protocol, the Arms Control Association (ACA) advocacy group said on Feb 19.

The report “raises concerns that the Trump administration has not carefully considered the proliferation risks posed by its proposed nuclear cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia or the precedent this agreement may set”, Ms Kelsey Davenport, the head of non-proliferation policy for ACA, said in an article published on Feb 19.

Mr Trump’s report to Congress says that the draft US-Saudi pact on civil nuclear, known as a 123 Agreement, puts the US industry at the heart of Saudi Arabia’s civil nuclear development, ensuring nuclear-proliferation safeguards are in place. The document, however, opens the way to Saudi Arabia also having an enrichment programme, as it refers to “additional safeguards and verification measures to the most sensitive areas of potential nuclear cooperation” between the US and Saudi Arabia, including enrichment and reprocessing.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, has said that the kingdom would seek to develop nuclear weapons if regional rival Iran did so.

“If they get one, we have to get one,” he told Fox News in 2023, saying a weapon would be necessary “for security reasons, and for balancing power in the Middle East, but we don’t want to see that”.

The White House, US State Department, and Saudi Arabia’s Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Congressional check

Ms Davenport said “it behoves Congress” to provide a check on the administration’s power to strike an agreement with the kingdom and “consider not just the implications for Saudi Arabia, but also the precedent that this deal will set, and vigorously examine the terms of the proposed 123 Agreement”.

The Trump administration could submit the 123 Agreement to Congress as soon as Feb 22, ACA said, as it has about 90 days after the report to Congress to send it. Unless both the Senate and the US House pass resolutions opposing the 123 Agreement within 90 days, it would go into effect and allow Saudi Arabia a civil nuclear programme. REUTERS