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US President Donald Trump has sent Congress a proposed civil nuclear energy agreement with Saudi Arabia, tying its implementation to the kingdom’s recognition of Israel, a US administration official said on Tuesday.
The agreement, reached in July, would allow US companies to export civilian nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia and pave the way for the construction of Westinghouse AP1000 reactors under a 30-year deal worth tens of billions of dollars.
However, the administration has maintained that the agreement will not take effect unless Saudi Arabia joins the Abraham Accords, the US-brokered agreements under which Israel established diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.
“The president's position has not changed that the agreement will only move forward if Saudi Arabia joins the Abraham Accords,” Reuters cited the US official saying in an email.
The agreement was sent to Congress on Monday and is expected to be referred to congressional committees on Wednesday, according to two congressional sources.
Congress will have 90 session days to review the agreement. Unless lawmakers object within that period, the pact will enter into force.
Should Congress reject the agreement, Trump could veto the decision, although lawmakers would need a two-thirds majority to override the veto.
The move comes despite uncertainty over how the congressional review process could advance Trump's broader objective of securing Saudi-Israeli normalisation.
Trump had previously said he would not allow the nuclear agreement to proceed unless Saudi Arabia joined the Abraham Accords.
Former US President Joe Biden had also sought a civil nuclear agreement with Riyadh and wanted it linked to Saudi-Israeli normalisation.
Diplomatic efforts to secure Saudi recognition of Israel gained momentum in 2023, but the outbreak of Israel's war in Gaza in October that year altered the regional landscape.
Saudi Arabia has since insisted that any recognition of Israel must be preceded by an irreversible pathway towards the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Under the proposed nuclear agreement, Westinghouse would build AP1000 reactors in Saudi Arabia. The company is jointly owned by Canada-based Cameco and Brookfield Asset Management.
The pact has also drawn criticism from some Democratic lawmakers and nuclear non-proliferation advocates because it does not explicitly prevent Saudi Arabia from enriching uranium or reprocessing nuclear waste — two processes that could potentially provide pathways towards developing nuclear weapons.
The United Arab Emirates accepted restrictions on both activities under its 2009 civil nuclear agreement with Washington, measures widely regarded as the “gold standard” for non-proliferation safeguards.
The Trump administration, however, maintains that the Saudi agreement contains the non-proliferation safeguards required under US law.
Henry Sokolski, head of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, said the congressional process could potentially allow the agreement to proceed without securing either Saudi-Israeli normalisation or stronger restrictions on nuclear activities.
“This is hardly ideal if you're serious about no enrichment and recognition of Israel,” Sokolski said. - August 26, 2026
