Donald Trump will allow Saudi Arabia to develop its own civilian nuclear program under a sweeping new deal as the Iran war spirals into the Red Sea and oil races toward $100 a barrel.
The agreement is reported to be worth tens of billions of dollars and structured to give US companies a central role in building the kingdom’s uranium enrichment facilities on Saudi soil.
Saudi leaders are said to have agreed only to limited international inspections of the sites. Those arrangements are intended to stop enriched fuel being diverted towards weapons.
Some US lawmakers and Israeli officials have opposed the plan, fearing the Saudis could use a civilian program as a stepping stone to nuclear weapons. Trump has dropped the previous condition that any such deal be tied to Saudi recognition of Israel.
Trump’s deal is expected to last 30 years and now heads to Congress, where opponents would need a veto-proof supermajority to block it.
The agreement is controversial in part because the US went to war with Iran to stop Tehran from enriching uranium for its own nuclear program.
It comes as the war widened this week, with Iranian-backed Houthi militants declaring a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia. The move threatens the Red Sea route through which the kingdom has been diverting millions of barrels of oil a day around the effectively closed Strait of Hormuz
Closing Bab al-Mandab as well could cut off a quarter of the world’s oil and gas supply. Heightened tensions in the Gulf pushed Brent crude to $95 a barrel by Wednesday morning, according to the New York Times.
Donald Trump will allow Saudi Arabia to develop its own civilian nuclear program under a sweeping new deal as the Iran war spirals into the Red Sea
Iranian-backed Houthi militants declared a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia this week
Trump’s agreement is controversial in part because the US went to war with Iran to stop Tehran from enriching uranium for its own nuclear program
Under the terms of the pact, Riyadh would be barred from enriching uranium on its own, or with any other foreign partner, for a decade if Washington objects once a joint study is completed.
Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has previously vowed that his country would ‘without a doubt’ build nuclear weapons if Iran developed them.
The kingdom has faced mounting drone and missile attacks by Iran on its military and civilian infrastructure since Tehran’s war with the US resumed earlier this month.
Saudi officials insist the program is strictly civilian and will allow the kingdom to power its homes with nuclear energy, freeing up more crude for export.
The announcement landed as US forces completed an 11th consecutive night of strikes on Iran, with secretary of state Marco Rubio warning that Tehran was not taking peace talks seriously.
Fighting reignited two weeks ago after ceasefire talks between the US and Iran broke down that triggered ten consecutive nights of strikes on regime targets.
The US is trying to cripple Tehran’s ability to menace commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that carries one-fifth of all global oil.
America accused Iran a few weeks ago of violating the Memorandum of Understanding by attacking oil tankers passing through the Persian Gulf.
The US Navy has also hit back at Iranian aggression, reimposing a blockade on all of the regime’s ports and seizing several of its ships.
Iran, meanwhile, has responded by launching missile and drone attacks at Gulf nation water and power plants.
American troop deaths in the war have risen to 17 as nearly 100 US troops have been injured in Iranian strikes on bases across the Middle East over the past two weeks.
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