JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
The U.S. and Saudi Arabia have signed an agreement that would allow for U.S. companies to build and run nuclear power plants on Saudi soil. But just hours after that was announced, President Trump wrote on Truth Social that Saudi Arabia would first need to join the Abraham Accords, a separate agreement, normalizing ties with Israel. Saudi Arabia has previously said it will not join the Abraham Accords for the time being. And so this nuclear agreement is in doubt. Joining us now is NPR’s Franco Ordoñez, here in Washington, D.C., as well as Emily Feng in Tel Aviv. Welcome to both of you.
FRANCO ORDOÑEZ, BYLINE: Hey, Juana.
EMILY FENG, BYLINE: Hello.
SUMMERS: So, Franco, I know you were at the White House today. Did President Trump or others in the administration clarify what would happen to this nuclear energy agreement?
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah. Trump also said today that the agreement bars any nuclear enrichment. And Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary – she did address it today at the press briefing. But, you know, she really largely echoed what the president had already had said. You know, she told us reporters that the deal is contingent on Saudi Arabia signing the Abraham Accords, and she couldn’t explain actually how it would be enforced considering Trump’s energy secretary had already signed the deal.
You know, asked why the conditions were not part of the original deal that was announced yesterday, you know, she just said that Trump was – you know, has been speaking about this repeatedly, and that, in the end, Trump was the, quote, “final dealmaker.” You know, there are just so many more questions yet to be answered. You know, the signed deal was supposed to go to Congress for a review. What happens to that now? And I will add that plenty of lawmakers are very concerned about this deal as well ’cause they fear that it could lead to more countries developing nuclear weapons.
FENG: I want to jump in here and say people in the Middle East, where I am, are also really confused. You know, Trump’s post has muddied the viability of this nuclear energy agreement less than a day after it was announced. And I spoke to Steven Cook, a Middle East expert at the Council on Foreign Relations about this. He told me his phone is blowing up right now with people asking him, does this mean the nuclear deal is off?
STEVEN COOK: Does a Truth Social post supersede a signed diplomatic agreement? I think this is one of the frustrations that other countries have had with the United States.
FENG: Because there’s no mention of the Abraham Accords or Saudi Arabia having to normalize ties with Israel first in this agreement that’s already been signed.
SUMMERS: OK. So let’s talk now about what is actually in this agreement. What did the U.S. and Saudi Arabia agree to?
ORDOÑEZ: Well, the agreement allows the Saudis to build nuclear plants using U.S. technology. And because of the length of the time it takes to build a nuclear plant and their operational life, I mean, this could really set up a decades-long cooperation worth billions of dollars, according to the U.S. Energy Department.
FENG: What’s also worth looking at is what is not in the agreement, because it falls short of what is now called the gold standard of nuclear energy agreements, which would be a commitment from Saudi Arabia not to use American-built plants to enrich nuclear fuel themselves, not to reprocess that fuel for weapons and also to open these plants up for regular international inspections.
Back in 2009, when the U.S. signed a similar nuclear energy agreement with the United Arab Emirates, all three of these provisions were included. But despite concerns about Saudi Arabia’s human rights abuses, fears, also, that one day it might want to pursue a nuclear weapon, these provisions are not in the energy agreement announced this week.
SUMMERS: I mean, Franco, Israel publicly opposed the deal. Did the country or Prime Minister Netanyahu have any role in Trump adding this extra condition?
ORDOÑEZ: Well, I mean, the press secretary was asked about this directly, and she said she was unaware of any involvement. But, I mean, I’m sure there were some diplomatic talks happening behind the scenes. You know, Israel has made clear that they were not happy. And let’s also just kind of remember that last year, Trump dropped a push made by the Biden administration for Saudis to normalize relations with Israel in order to actually move forward with a similar nuclear arrangement. So in a way, Trump is actually adding a condition that many critics say he previously abandoned himself.
SUMMERS: Emily, over to you. You are in Israel. Tell us about the reaction there.
FENG: There was shock when this agreement was announced, even horror. Israel, I should note, is widely believed to have nuclear weapons already itself, but it’s never confirmed its nuclear arsenal, and they don’t want other countries around it to have a nuclear weapon. They’re worried that this slightly more flexible conditions of the U.S.-Saudi agreement could set off a nuclear arms race across the region. I spoke to Yoel Guzansky, a senior researcher at the think tank Institute for National Security Studies here in Israel, about Trump’s decision on this agreement.
YOEL GUZANSKY: If he agreed to enrichment in Saudi Arabia, as he did when he signed this agreement, how can he demand zero enrichment in Iran? It will be much harder to sell.
FENG: Many former, retired senior officials are coming out to speak today against the agreement. A former prime minister, Ehud Barak, said this nuclear agreement was a sign of growing distrust between the U.S. and Israel. Yair Lapid, one of the main opposition politicians here in Israel, called the agreement a, quote, “total failure.” Here he is on a podcast earlier today.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
YAIR LAPID: (Non-English language spoken).
FENG: Lapid is saying here, “it was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s job here in Israel to prevent any Middle Eastern nuclear program.” And Lapid said he has worked to prevent the U.S. from signing similar agreements before. Netanyahu’s office, the prime minister’s office, has been pretty quiet today. They only said in a statement that, quote, “Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords would be a historic leap forward for peace in the Middle East,” which, as you mentioned, joining the Abraham Accords with Saudi Arabia is unlikely, and Saudi Arabia has not commented publicly yet.
SUMMERS: I mean, Franco, you’ve covered President Trump for a long time, and I take it, it is not a new thing for him to introduce new demands into negotiations.
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah, Juana. That’s absolutely right. I mean, he’s got kind of a long record of this, and it actually goes back before his presidential career, to his real estate career, and a very well-known practice of, you know, threatening to walk away or demand new concessions, such as how he pushed for changes with NATO. You know, another example is how he threatened to withdraw from the trade deal with Mexico and Canada, NAFTA, and used that leverage to negotiate a deal. Another example is the tariffs that he lodged against adversaries and European allies, you know, to force new negotiations and new trading arrangements.
I mean, I will say that supporters argue that Trump is smart to use this kind of leverage to help the country, but critics argue that he’s actually hurting U.S. integrity by continuing to move the goalposts.
SUMMERS: NPR’s Franco Ordoñez and Emily Feng, thanks to both of you.
ORDOÑEZ: Thank you.
FENG: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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