USA to announce nuclear program agreement with Saudi Arabia

The agreement, which is expected to be announced between the USA and Saudi Arabia, may pave the way for Riyadh to enrich uranium on its own territory and develop a civilian nuclear program. It is now possible to follow the agenda on BBC Turkish on WhatsApp. Click to get our news directly to your phone.

The United States and Saudi Arabia are expected to announce an agreement that would allow them to pursue a civilian nuclear program. The news in the country's media was based on US officials. It was stated that the agreement is expected to be announced by the administration of US President Donald Trump on Wednesday.

According to the news, a nuclear facility that can be used as power plant fuel will be built with US support. However, it is noted that this facility can also produce enriched uranium, which can be used in the production of nuclear bombs. Nuclear energy experts and some former Israeli politicians have expressed concerns that the plan could eventually lead to Saudi Arabia achieving the capacity to develop nuclear weapons.

The BBC contacted the White House to get a statement on the issue. According to reports in the US press, Saudi Arabia may receive permission to enrich uranium on its own territory after conducting a joint study with the US. Thus, the kingdom could produce its own fuel in a facility to be built by the United States, rather than relying on imported fuel.

This provision distinguishes the agreement from the agreement the United States made with Saudi Arabia's neighbor, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in 2009. Under that agreement, the UAE does not produce its own nuclear fuel and accepts a number of other restrictions. For this reason, the agreement is expected to attract the reaction of non-proliferation advocates who aim to prevent the increase in the number of nuclear weapons around the world. Tehran's nuclear program is at the center of the war between the USA and Iran, which has been going on for months.

The United States and Israel announced in February that one of the reasons they attacked Iran was to prevent that country from developing nuclear weapons. Tehran repeated that its nuclear program was peaceful and did not aim to develop weapons. Saudi Arabia's de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, told CBS News in 2018 that his country was not planning to acquire nuclear weapons.

He continued: "If Iran develops a nuclear bomb, we will undoubtedly do the same as soon as possible. According to the Wall Street Journal, the US-Saudi Arabia agreement, which is expected to be announced on Wednesday, has been approved by Trump and will remain in effect for 30 years. According to the newspaper, at the end of the cooperation agreement, if the United States objects to uranium enrichment in Saudi Arabia, the kingdom will not be allowed to do so on its own or with another foreign partner for 10 years.

The plan will now be sent to the US Congress. Although Trump's Republican Party holds the majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, some members of Congress from both parties are expected to oppose the agreement. According to the New York Times, the US-Saudi Arabia agreement was not conditioned on Riyadh normalizing diplomatic relations with Israel.

Normalizing relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel has been one of the goals of US presidents. We used artificial intelligence in the translation of this article, which was originally written in English. A BBC journalist checked the translation before publication. More information about how we use artificial intelligence is here.