US Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushed back against critics who may be concerned about Saudi Arabia’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon in the future.
“The US is not going to reach any agreement with any country in the world that leads to the risk of proliferation,” Rubio told reporters while travelling in the Philippines.
Several Democrats who voiced opposition to the deal noted that during his time as a senator, Rubio had endorsed a law – the “No Nuclear Weapons for Saudi Arabia Act” – which required Congress to sign off on a nuclear deal with the Saudis.
Massachusetts Democratic Senator Edward Markey issued a statement condemning Rubio and Trump, and saying that their “hypocrisy is matched only by their recklessness”.
“They are allowing Saudi Arabia, a belligerent and authoritarian nation, to develop nuclear weapons technologies while starting a war with Iran under the guise of preventing an Iranian nuclear bomb,” said Markey.
If an enrichment provision is included, it would distinguish this agreement from another one that was struck by the US in 2009 with Saudi Arabia’s neighbour, the United Arab Emirates, under which the UAE does not produce its own fuel and accepts a host of other restrictions.
For that reason, the agreement is also expected to attract the concern of nuclear non-proliferation campaigners, whose ultimate aim is to prevent an increase in the number of nuclear weapons worldwide.
Saudi Arabia has been lobbying for such a deal for years under multiple presidents, but Washington has held out with a key request that the country recognise Israel, a key US ally, and normalise diplomatic and economic relations with it.
But that demand appears to have been dropped as a condition for the deal, according to US media reports.
Trump has worked to cultivate a closer relationship with Saudi Arabia during his time in the White House.
Along with the strategic and commercial gains likely to come with this deal, one possible reason for this agreement happening now is Russia and China have reportedly been in discussions on something similar and the US might not have wanted to miss out.
The deal marks a major victory for Saudi Arabia, and it has the potential to reshape power dynamics in the Middle East – though not immediately and perhaps not for several years, if not longer.
The nuclear issue has been at the centre of the months-long US-Israeli conflict with Iran. The two nations say one of the reasons they attacked Iran in February was to prevent the country from ever developing a nuclear weapon – something that Tehran denies planning to do.
Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, told CBS News in 2018 that his own nation was not planning to acquire a nuclear weapon, but that “without a doubt if Iran developed a nuclear bomb, we will follow suit as soon as possible”.
