Trump links Saudi nuclear pact to normalizing ties with Israel

US President Donald Trump said a proposed civilian nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia would depend on the kingdom normalizing relations with Israel, adding a condition that appeared to contradict the administration’s position when the deal was announced a day earlier.

Trump said Saudi Arabia would have to join the Abraham Accords, the US-backed framework through which the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and other countries established diplomatic relations with Israel. He also said the agreement would not permit Saudi uranium enrichment.

The comments introduced uncertainty into an agreement that Washington and Riyadh had presented as a major expansion of their strategic partnership.

Earlier reporting indicated that Trump had approved the pact without requiring Saudi recognition of Israel. The administration had previously stepped back from making normalization a formal condition of nuclear cooperation.

Saudi Arabia has repeatedly said it will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel without a credible path to an independent Palestinian state. That position has become harder to shift amid the war in Gaza and widespread anger in the Arab world over Israeli military operations.

The nuclear agreement would allow American companies to help Saudi Arabia develop civilian reactors as the kingdom seeks to diversify its energy system and reduce the amount of oil burned to generate electricity.

The central dispute has long concerned enrichment. Riyadh has wanted the ability to produce nuclear fuel domestically, while US lawmakers and non-proliferation experts have pressed for restrictions that would prevent civilian facilities from providing a route toward weapons capability.

Israel, which is widely believed to possess the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal, has raised concerns that the agreement could begin a regional arms race. Some Israeli officials and US lawmakers are expected to scrutinize the pact closely.

The agreement would still require congressional consideration, giving lawmakers an opportunity to challenge its safeguards and political conditions.

Trump’s intervention may have been intended to reassure Israel and create leverage over Riyadh. It may instead make the pact harder to complete. Saudi Arabia has not indicated that it is prepared to abandon its Palestinian condition in exchange for nuclear cooperation.

The confusion also raises a more immediate question for governments negotiating with Washington. They may struggle to determine whether an announced agreement represents settled US policy or merely the administration’s position until the president’s next post.