Saudi Arabia has reached an agreement with the United States on nuclear power

The Trump administration is preparing to sign a nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia that marks a turning point in US non-proliferation policy. The pact, a 123 Agreement under the Atomic Energy Act, paves the way for extensive cooperation on civil nuclear matters and could allow the kingdom to enrich uranium and reprocess plutonium on its own territory. This concession breaks with the so-called ‘Gold Standard’, applied to the United Arab Emirates in 2009, which prohibited any fuel cycle activity potentially useful for weapons development.

According to US sources, the agreement will be announced today and presented to Congress in the coming days. The White House maintains that the deal will strengthen the strategic alliance with Riyadh at a time marked by the war with Iran and will secure billions of dollars for the US nuclear industry. But the political cost is high: the deal restricts the International Atomic Energy Agency’s ability to carry out intrusive inspections and includes two secret letters that the administration considers sensitive to national security.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has repeatedly stated that, should Iran acquire a nuclear weapon, Saudi Arabia would ‘undoubtedly’ do the same. The kingdom wishes to retain the right to produce all the energy it needs to keep the country running, and the agreement with Washington provides a legal framework that makes this prospect more realistic. To secure Saudi Arabia’s signature, Trump accepted conditions that neither the Bush nor the Obama administrations had considered negotiable.

Congress may vote on a resolution of disapproval, but blocking the agreement will require a qualified majority capable of overcoming a potential presidential veto. This is a complex challenge, despite bipartisan criticism and Israeli concerns over the risk of proliferation. Some politicians from both parties and several Israeli officials have, in fact, expressed their opposition to the agreement, fearing that Saudi Arabia might use a civilian project to develop nuclear weapons in the future.

The agreement comes after months of tensions between Washington and Riyadh: Saudi Arabia’s refusal to grant access to its airspace for operations in the Gulf, doubts over US policy in the Middle East, and the normalisation of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, brokered by China in 2023. Against this backdrop, nuclear cooperation is becoming a means of mending relations and consolidating a strategic alliance that remains crucial for both countries.