Trump says the Saudi nuclear deal depends on the kingdom to comply with the Abraham Accords Donald Trump News

The President of the United States Donald Trump said that a civilian nuclear deal and Saudi Arabia is “totally submitting” to a permanent monarchy with Israel as part of the Abrahamic covenant.

Trump’s comments on Thursday, just a day after the deal was announced, have thrown some confusion into the previously known, undisclosed deal.

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In his Truth Social Account, the US President wrote that the agreement “will be approved, but it must be ordered by Saudi Arabia to join the honorable and successful Abraham Accords”.

Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond to the allegations. Any acceptance of better relations with Israel under the accords would represent a major pivot for Riyadh, which has long rejected such a prospect.

Trump’s statement came a day after the US Department of Energy he announced that Washington and Riyadh signed a “decade-long, multibillion-dollar nuclear peace agreement” and a “bilateral agreement” regarding the establishment of a civilian nuclear program.

The agreement will need to be approved by the US Congress.

Several US media reports said the deal would allow Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium domestically, rather than importing nuclear fuel.

Such a plan would mark a major departure from how Washington has managed nuclear weapons programs abroad. It has long been opposed to providing enriching technology and knowledge to countries that do not already have it.

But in a statement on Thursday, Trump appeared to reject the report, writing without further ado: “There will be no physical burden!”

“The United States is not opposed to Civilian (Non-Enriched) Nuclear Weapons,” he added.

Uranium enrichment is not prohibited under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), to which the US and Saudi Arabia are signatories. Enrichment is needed to make nuclear fuel, but, at high levels, it is also the basis for nuclear weapons.

Iran’s nuclear arsenal has been a major cause of the ongoing US-Israel war, which began on February 28. Tehran has maintained that it does not want a nuclear weapon, while framing the right to enrichment as a matter of sovereignty.

Saudi Arabia has been pursuing a civilian nuclear program as it seeks to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels.

However, anti-nuclear groups have sharply criticized the deal announced on Wednesday, with several lawmakers saying it could lead to a nuclear arms race in the Middle East, especially if the deal allows for their enrichment.

Some have warned that it could encourage Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. Israel has also been around for many years tempted to have it nuclear weapons, although the US government has kept the policy unclear to its allies.

Turkey, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates maintain conventional nuclear weapons to varying degrees.

‘A lot of questions’

Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna said Trump’s recent comments on the Abraham Accords have created confusion for the agreement.

“This … no longer appears to be part of the original agreement,” he said. “So there are a lot of questions that come up, and no doubt there will be a lot of questions in Congress.”

Several Arab countries have agreed to normalize relations with Israel as part of the Abraham Accords, which were originally signed by the UAE and Bahrain in December 2020, Trump’s first term as US President.

This made the two countries the first in the region to recognize Israel since Jordan in 1994. Morocco and Sudan also signed the agreement, although Sudan has not ratified the agreement.

Although the accords remain in place, Israel’s relationship with its signatories has been strained amid the deadly war in Gaza. Before the war, the alliance was heavily criticized for its focus on the Palestinian issue.

Both Trump and former US President Joe Biden’s administration have been pushing for years for Saudi Arabia to join them.