U.S. signs landmark nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia
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“U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and Saudi Minister of Energy His Royal Highness (HRH) Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman signed a peaceful nuclear cooperation agreement, commonly known as a 123 agreement, alongside an accompanying bilateral safeguards agreement,” the announcement read. “Together, these two agreements lay the legal foundation for a decades-long, multi-billion-dollar partnership that advances several priority economic and strategic objectives, including nuclear nonproliferation.”
In the announcement, Wright added: “Rest assured, these agreements uphold the highest standards of nuclear safety and nonproliferation, while relying on the world’s best nuclear technology and scientists, designed right here in the United States.”
Earlier, a senior administration official told NBC News that President Donald Trump had approved the deal.
The agreement will see the U.S. support the creation of a nuclear power program and see American companies build the program in the kingdom, said the official who was granted anonymity by NBC News so that the person could speak about the deal before its official announcement.
The deal is not expected to require the most rigorous level of U.N. inspections or include a ban on uranium enrichment or reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, according to three people familiar with the agreement.
The pact would allow U.S. companies to build a uranium enrichment facility in Saudi Arabia pending a joint U.S.-Saudi study examining if such a step would be feasible, the people told NBC News. The text of the deal has not been released and the administration has not publicly outlined the details of the agreement.
News of the agreement was first reported in The Wall Street Journal.
Congress will be required to vote on the agreement, but would need a veto-proof majority to actually block the deal, which could pave the way for the kingdom to pursue its own uranium enrichment and likely raise fears of nuclear proliferation.
Asked ahead of the announcement about those concerns and reports of an expected deal, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that the U.S. would not “reach any agreement with any country in the world that leads to the risk of proliferation.”
The agreement comes as the war against Iran that was launched by the U.S. and Israel in late February goes on. Trump has insisted that Tehran should not be able to develop a nuclear weapon, despite the Islamic Republic consistently denying that it plans to do so.
An agreement to normalize ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia had previously been a U.S. requirement for any deal allowing the kingdom to enrich uranium, but Saudi leaders insisted this would not be possible without meaningful progress toward a Palestinian state.
However, Wright discussed building the country’s commercial nuclear power industry with his Saudi counterpart, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud, on a visit to the kingdom last year, shortly before Trump traveled there himself in May 2025.
Any deal without appropriate guardrails in place would be “concerning from a proliferation perspective,” according to Darya Dolzikova, a senior research fellow with the proliferation and nuclear policy program at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank.
“Any country, period, but particularly countries of proliferation concern have to be really, really robust on their nonproliferation provisions,” she added.
And Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has previously warned that the kingdom would try to obtain a nuclear weapon if Iran was also able to do, Dolzikova noted.
Saudi Arabia also signed a mutual defense pact with Pakistan, the only Muslim nuclear nation, in September. Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif then said his nation’s nuclear program would “be made available” to Saudi Arabia if required.
The Middle Eastern kingdom is a member state of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which promotes peaceful nuclear work but also inspects nations to ensure they don’t have clandestine atomic weapon programs. Based in Vienna, the agency reports to the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council.
While enrichment does not necessarily lead to a nuclear weapon, it can open the door to it. However, any country wishing to do so would also have to master other technologies including the use of synchronized high explosives.
And there has been focus on whether any deal would include the “gold standard” safeguards that would block the kingdom from enriching uranium and reprocessing spent nuclear fuel, both of which are potential pathways to nuclear weapons.
It also remains to be seen whether the agreement includes the “Additional Protocol” that grants the IAEA greater oversight of a country’s nuclear activities.
Ultimately, “the devil will be in the details,” Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at the London-based think tank Chatham House, said. If Saudi Arabia does retain the right to enrich, she said, “it’s the issue of domestic enrichment that will be more concerning and alarming.”
The deal with the U.S. came a day after senior Saudi and United Arab Emirates officials shared similar social media posts affirming their close historical ties and “wise leadership,” a move that follows months of tensions owing to a rift between the two Gulf monarchies.
The Gulf nations have been split over their support for opposing sides in the war in Yemen that culminated in a Saudi airstrike late last year, on what it said was a shipment of UAE military equipment to the Yemeni faction Abu Dhabi backed.
Their interests have diverged over a number of issues including oil quotas.
But the posts from the Saudi Minister of Media Salman Al-Dosary and Abdulla bin Mohamed Alhamed, Chairman of the UAE National Media Authority, said they should focus on their shared history and heritage.
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