Trump sends Saudi nuclear deal to Congress — but gives kingdom one HUGE condition

BS BULLETIN:

Trump has formally sent a landmark 30-year civilian nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia to Congress for review.
The White House says the deal still won’t move forward unless Saudi Arabia normalizes relations with Israel and joins the Abraham Accords.
There’s another eyebrow-raiser: The entire agreement is classified — highly unusual for this type of U.S. nuclear cooperation pact.

President Donald Trump just put a potentially historic Saudi nuclear deal in Congress’ hands. But he’s keeping one enormous string attached.

Saudi Arabia wants American nuclear technology. Trump wants Saudi Arabia to recognize Israel. And according to the administration, Riyadh isn’t getting one without the other.

The proposed U.S.-Saudi civilian nuclear agreement was formally transmitted to Congress Monday, starting the congressional review process required under the Atomic Energy Act. A Trump administration official told Reuters:

“The president’s position has not changed that the agreement will only move forward if Saudi Arabia joins the Abraham Accords.”

That’s quite a condition considering Saudi Arabia has spent years refusing to normalize relations with Israel without a clear path toward a Palestinian state. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected Palestinian statehood on Israeli security grounds.

So Trump has effectively tied three of the Middle East’s most explosive issues together: Saudi Arabia’s nuclear ambitions. Saudi recognition of Israel. And the Palestinian question.

The agreement itself was finalized in July and signed by Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman.

But the Israel requirement wasn’t part of the deal announced at signing. Trump added it the next day. ABC News reports the condition wasn’t contained in the original agreement between the two countries, and the Associated Press reports the Saudis were surprised when Trump announced it.

Now, a month later, Trump has gone ahead and sent the nuclear agreement to Capitol Hill while simultaneously insisting that his Israel demand remains.

Congress gets 90 days while in session to review the pact. Unless lawmakers pass a joint resolution rejecting it, the agreement can ultimately take effect without an affirmative vote by either chamber. Congress is reviewing a classified agreement.

AP reports that classifying the entire contents of a so-called Section 123 nuclear cooperation agreement at such a high level is unusual. Previous American nuclear agreements with other countries have generally been public, even when they contained classified annexes. What lawmakers will be looking for inside that document could be just as consequential as Trump’s Israel demand.

One of the biggest questions surrounding the Saudi program has been uranium enrichment. Critics have long worried that allowing Saudi Arabia to develop enrichment capability could create another potential pathway toward nuclear weapons and trigger a proliferation race in the Middle East. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman hasn’t exactly calmed those fears over the years. He has previously said Saudi Arabia would pursue a nuclear weapon if Iran developed one.

Reuters reports the 30-year agreement would put American companies in position to export civilian nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia, including a project involving AP1000 reactors worth tens of billions of dollars. Critics say the pact does not explicitly prohibit Saudi uranium enrichment or the reprocessing of nuclear waste. Trump, however, said when he announced the Israel condition in July that there would be no enrichment of nuclear material under the deal.

That leaves Congress with plenty to examine over the next 90 session days. But the political problem may be even harder to solve than the nuclear one. Saudi Arabia has repeatedly maintained that recognition of Israel requires an “irreversible” path toward Palestinian statehood. Israel says Palestinian statehood presents an unacceptable security risk. And Trump says the Saudi nuclear agreement won’t happen without normalization.

Something has to give.

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