The United States will only proceed with a newly signed civil nuclear cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia if Riyadh joins the Abraham Accords and formally recognises Israel, President Donald Trump stated on Thursday. The announcement, made on his Truth Social platform, directly contradicts the terms presented when the deal was unveiled by the US Energy Department a day earlier, which made no mention of such a precondition. The agreement, a so-called 123 Agreement, would allow American firms to build nuclear reactors in the kingdom and had been portrayed by Washington as a multibillion-dollar commercial opportunity that would also keep Chinese and Russian competitors out of the Saudi market.

Viewed from Washington, the sudden linkage appears aimed at placating critics in Congress and Israel who had warned that granting Saudi Arabia access to sensitive nuclear technology without extracting a major diplomatic concession risked a regional arms race. The White House press secretary insisted that Saudi officials had been aware the deal was contingent on recognising Israel, though no such condition was publicly disclosed at the signing ceremony. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking in Manila, defended the agreement, saying any civil nuclear pact would include safeguards to prevent it from being turned into a weapons programme and that it was preferable for Riyadh to work with American companies rather than rivals.

Saudi Arabia has not officially responded to Trump’s statement. The kingdom’s long-standing position, reiterated by officials in Riyadh and reported across Arabic-language media, is that it will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel without a credible pathway to the creation of a Palestinian state. That stance hardened after the October 2023 Hamas attack and the subsequent war in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office welcomed the condition, calling potential Saudi adherence to the Abraham Accords a “historic leap forward for peace in the Middle East,” while making no reference to Palestinian statehood.

The deal now faces a 90-session-day review period in the US Congress, where lawmakers from both parties have voiced unease. Some critics, including Senator Bernie Sanders, have argued that allowing Saudi Arabia to develop nuclear capabilities—even if Trump later insisted there would be “no enrichment of material”—undermines Washington’s stated goal of preventing nuclear proliferation, particularly as the US is engaged in military conflict with Iran over its own nuclear programme. The agreement reportedly does not require Saudi Arabia to adopt the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Additional Protocol, which permits short-notice inspections, a departure from standards applied to the UAE’s 2009 nuclear deal. With Riyadh silent and the congressional review pending, the pact’s future remains uncertain.