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Donald Trump has approved an agreement with Saudi Arabia that could provide the kingdom with uranium enrichment capability for its civilian nuclear programme, according to news reports citing people familiar with the matter.
The people, who were not authorised to comment publicly about the yet to be formally announced decision, said the agreement may be announced as early as Wednesday. The deal was reported by both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.
The deal is expected to last 30 years and is also expected to involve US firms in developing the programme. It could allow for the building of a uranium enrichment facility in Saudi Arabia after a joint US-Saudi study.
It is expected to be submitted to Congress for review where it could face headwinds among lawmakers who fear that helping the Saudis fulfil their longstanding desire to enrich their own uranium would open new rounds of nuclear proliferation and competition.
Related: ‘Not our war’: Gulf states weigh up options as existential threat from Iran conflict grows
Saudi Arabia is a member state of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a Vienna-based agency that promotes peaceful nuclear work but also does inspections to make sure countries do not have clandestine atomic weapons programmes.
The agreement is not expected to include the IAEA’s “additional protocol”, which would allow for more monitoring, inspections and verification, according to one of the people who revealed it.
The expected announcement comes amid the war against Iran launched by the US and Israel – in part on the premise of wiping out Tehran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon. Iran insists its nuclear enrichment programme is peaceful, but has previously boasted of enriching uranium to the brink of what is needed to explode a nuclear bomb.
The White House and Saudi officials in Riyadh did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the decision, which was first reported by the Journal.
Both Trump and former president Joe Biden tried to reach a nuclear deal with the kingdom to share American technology.
But non-proliferation experts warn any centrifuges – used to enrich uranium – within Saudi Arabia could open the door to a weapons programme for the kingdom, something its de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has not ruled out if Iran obtains an atomic bomb.
Enrichment is not an automatic path to a nuclear weapon – there are other steps, such as mastering the use of synchronised conventional high explosives. It does however open the door to weaponisation, which has fuelled the concerns of the west over Iran’s programme.
Trump’s energy secretary, Chris Wright, travelled to Saudi Arabia in 2025 shortly before Trump visited the kingdom and discussed building out the kingdom’s commercial nuclear power industry with his Saudi counterpart. The US department of energy did not immediately respond to requests for comment late on Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia and nuclear-armed Pakistan signed a mutual defence pact after Israel launched an attack on Qatar targeting Hamas officials. Pakistan’s defence minister then said his nation’s nuclear programme “will be made available” to Saudi Arabia if needed, something seen as a warning for Israel, long believed to be the Middle East’s only nuclear-armed state.
The United Arab Emirates, a neighbour to Saudi Arabia, signed what is referred to as a “123 agreement” with the US to build its Barakah nuclear power plant with South Korean assistance. But the UAE did so without seeking enrichment, something non-proliferation experts have held up as the “gold standard” for countries wanting nuclear power.
Associated Press
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