Under Trump, Saudi civil nuclear talks delinked from Israel recognition, report says

The United States is no longer demanding Saudi Arabia normalise ties with Israel as a condition for progress on its civil nuclear programme, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit next week.

Dropping the demand that Saudi Arabia establish diplomatic relations with the occupation state of Israel would be a major concession by Washington. Under former President Joe Biden, nuclear talks were an element of a wider US-Saudi deal tied to Riyadh’s goal of a defence treaty with Washington.

The kingdom has repeatedly said it would not recognise Israel without the establishment of a Palestinian state, frustrating the Biden administration’s attempts to expand the Abraham Accords signed during Trump’s first term. Under those accords the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco normalised ties with Israel. Progress towards Saudi recognition of Israel has been halted by fury in Arab countries over the occupation state’s genocidal bombing of Gaza. The nuclear talks had also stumbled over Washington’s non-proliferation concerns.

In a possible sign of a new approach, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that Saudi Arabia and the United States were on a “pathway” to a civil nuclear agreement when he visited the kingdom in April.

“When we have something to announce, you will hear it from the President. Any reports on this are speculative,” US National Security Council spokesman James Hewitt told Reuters in response to a request for comment.

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Saudi Arabia’s government media office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Even without the normalisation requirement for civil nuclear talks to progress, and despite unpacking the issue from a wider defence treaty, a deal is not yet in close reach, one of the sources said.

One sticking point is Section 123 of the US Atomic Energy Act that allows cooperation with other countries developing civil nuclear capabilities but specifies nonproliferation criteria including limiting uranium enrichment.

Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman has said that the kingdom would seek to enrich uranium and sell the product.

One of the sources said the kingdom was still not willing to sign a so-called 123 agreement, which would prevent enrichment or reprocessing of plutonium made in reactors – two routes that have the potential to culminate in nuclear weapons.

Secretary Wright previously said a 123 agreement would be a prerequisite to any deal.

However, there are several ways to structure a deal to achieve both countries’ objectives, Wright has said.

One solution being discussed is a “black box” arrangement where only US personnel would have access to a uranium enrichment facility on Saudi soil, the same source said.