There are plenty of reasons to be skeptical of the Trump administration’s civilian nuclear cooperation deal with Saudi Arabia, which is now before Congress for review. Some have to do with the dangers of unleashing nuclear proliferation in the Middle East. Others have to do with the nature and trustworthiness of the regime in Riyadh, especially the country’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The U.S.-Saudi deal omits two of the key safeguards found in a similar civilian nuclear agreement the United States reached in 2009 with the United Arab Emirates.
The UAE agreed to never pursue enrichment or reprocessing on its territory. This deal would let Saudi Arabia begin enriching uranium to 5 percent initially, with the limit eventually rising to 20 percent. That is a level that can be enriched fairly quickly to weapons-grade uranium. For context, the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran capped its enrichment at 3.67 percent for 15 years.
The Saudis could easily purchase fuel from international suppliers and forgo enrichment, as the UAE does, but the agreement calls for possibly building a uranium enrichment facility after a joint U.S.-Saudi study.
That’s where the second big flaw comes in. The agreement, signed in July, does not compel Saudi Arabia to adhere to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Additional Protocol, which mandates IAEA monitoring, inspection and verification. The UAE submits to this additional scrutiny.
That agreement, considered the gold standard for such pacts, also contains a clause saying that if any other Middle Eastern country obtains more-favorable nuclear cooperation terms, the UAE can renegotiate its deal. In other words, if Saudi Arabia is allowed to enrich uranium domestically, and without the strictest IAEA inspections, the UAE will probably demand the same permissive treatment.
The Saudi crown prince has said publicly that the kingdom would move toward acquiring a nuclear weapon if Iran did the same. The U.S. intelligence community has assessed that the kingdom remains open to developing a nuclear weapons program, according to classified documents provided to Congress, as The Post revealed last week.
Giving Saudi Arabia the option to domestically enrich uranium undercuts the Trump administration’s central justification for the war against Iran: that it can never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. The U.S. government has correctly scoffed at Tehran’s protestations that its uranium enrichment is strictly for civilian use.
Though Saudi Arabia is a strategic U.S. partner in a volatile region, and an important oil supplier, Mohammed has also shown himself to be a tyrant intolerant of dissent. In the annual Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders, Saudi Arabia sunk to 176th place out of 180 countries for 2026. That’s just one spot ahead of Iran.
Friday marks the eighth anniversary of the brutal slaying and dismemberment of Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent overseas critic of Mohammed. U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Mohammed personally approved the operation that led to Khashoggi’s assassination inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
The Saudis held a sham trial in 2019 and announced the conviction of eight men implicated in Khashoggi’s killing, saying five were sentenced to death. But none was named and the trial was closed. The two top people who were said to have directed the operation escaped trial or punishment. Eight years after our colleague’s body was dismembered by a bone saw, there has never been high-level accountability for the horrific crime.
Mohammed ascended to power as a reformer and modernizer. He continues trying to whitewash the kingdom as a capital of esports and host of comedy festivals. On the horizon: hosting the Asian Cup soccer tournament in 2027 and the World Cup in 2034.
Behind the facade, repression continues. Activists, intellectuals, journalists and social media users are imprisoned, many for merely advocating peaceful reform, according to various human rights groups.
Trump has said his nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia will not take effect until the kingdom agrees to join the Abraham Accords and recognize Israel. That’s something Riyadh has said it will not do until a pathway to a Palestinian state is established. But it is unclear if that condition was written into the text of the agreement, which was sent to Congress in August for a 90-day review.
Some lawmakers have expressed skepticism about the nuclear deal. With few legislative days left on the calendar, it’s uncertain whether opponents could muster enough support to pass a resolution of disapproval. Even then, Trump could veto any legislation aiming to block the deal. At minimum, Congress should insist that Saudi Arabia abide by the same conditions as the UAE. The Saudis do not deserve the benefit of the doubt.
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