Trump says ‘it’s time’ for Saudi Arabia to improve relations with Israel | Story

The US president also said that the nuclear agreement with the kingdom was set up so that Riyadh would join the ‘Abraham Accords’.

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has said that he will not move forward with the nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia unless Riyadh agrees to restore relations with Israel, under the so-called Abraham Accords.

Asked on Friday if the US Department of Energy had taken the lead when it announced the deal without Israeli action earlier this week, Trump said: “No, no one took the lead.”

“I’m just saying that in order to do this, he must be a member of the Abraham Covenant, which has been successful,” added the US President. “But it’s time to do it.”

Washington and Riyadh signed a nuclear cooperation agreement to establish a conventional nuclear program in the kingdom on Wednesday.

But after a day, Trump announced a new culture on social media, saying that Saudi Arabia must first normalize relations with Israel.

He repeated this on Friday.

Trump said he did not discuss the deal with Energy Secretary Chris Wright before the deal was signed, “but it was heard all the time, and Chris knew, and Saudi Arabia knew”.

Saudi Arabia has not yet responded to Trump’s recent statement linking the nuclear deal to normalization.

But Riyadh has insisted that it will not establish permanent relations with Israel until there is an agreement a clear path for a Palestinian statewhich the current Israeli government strongly opposes.

The Trump administration initially framed the nuclear deal as beneficial to the US and Saudi Arabia without mentioning Israel.

“These agreements reflect our shared commitment to strengthening the US-Saudi trade relationship, bringing prosperity at home and security to our partners abroad,” Wright said in a statement Wednesday.

The Trump administration called the deal “a multi-decade, multi-billion dollar deal” and said it would now be submitted to Congress for review.

Although its full details have not been released, some US reports have said that the deal will allow Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium domestically rather than import nuclear fuel from the US. But Trump later said that “there will not be a huge economy”.

The new nuclear deal expected to last 30 years, transferring US technology and expertise to the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy said the agreement would help “examine the diversity of energy sources, advance advanced technologies, and expand opportunities for cooperation and investment in ways that will benefit the two countries”.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted on Thursday that the deal would not lead to an increase in nuclear weapons, as US contractors would run the project, leaving Washington to review it. US nuclear manufacturer Westinghouse is believed to be the prime contractor.