Trump admin sends Saudi nuclear deal that includes enrichment pathway to Congress

By Davis Winkie, Zachary Cohen, Alejandra Jaramillo, CNN

(CNN) — The Trump administration sent the nuclear cooperation agreement it had signed with Saudi Arabia to Congress on Monday, an administration official and multiple congressional aides told CNN.

The civil nuclear deal, which could allow for uranium enrichment on Saudi soil, will go into effect in 90 days unless both houses of Congress pass disapproval resolutions, according to the Atomic Energy Act.

However, the White House said in July the agreement would be off unless Riyadh joins President Donald Trump’s Abraham Accords initiative that creates diplomatic ties with Israel. CNN previously reported that the agreement itself did not include a provision mandating Saudi Arabia join.

An administration official said that Trump’s “position has not changed … the agreement will only move forward if Saudi Arabia joins the Abraham Accords.” The White House did not answer questions about how the administration will prevent the signed deal from going into force after 90 days.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright, speaking at a Wednesday press conference with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said that the nuclear agreement and Abraham Accords negotiations “will be worked in parallel.”

A Saudi official responded to a CNN query saying, “Saudi-US relations are ever-evolving and have continued to broaden and to deepen over the years.”

“Saudi Arabia is looking forward to working closely with the US administration and Congress on ways to strengthen our partnership,” the official added.

A source familiar told CNN that the text sent to Congress on Monday was classified, describing the secrecy as “highly unusual.”

It was not immediately clear whether the text of the nuclear agreement and other elements of the package sent to Congress — including any potential side agreements — would be made public, or if additional unclassified documentation would be sent to Congress.

An administration official told CNN in July that the deal includes “side letters” that are “commercially or otherwise sensitive.”

Traditionally, only a small portion of civil nuclear cooperation agreements — an annex with a detailed State Department nonproliferation analysis — is classified, said Andrea Stricker of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank. Two additional sources familiar with the US nuclear agreement process said that classifying the entire text of a civil nuclear deal, known as a 123 agreement, would be “unprecedented.”

Wright also confirmed Wednesday that the deal provides Riyadh with a path to enriching uranium on Saudi soil, though he said that such arrangements would be “many years down the road.”

CNN previously reported that the agreement includes a joint US-Saudi study mechanism that could allow the kingdom to enrich its own uranium fuel for civilian reactors without adopting standard enhanced international safeguards known as the Additional Protocol. Wright said Wednesday that the two countries must “mutually (agree that enrichment) makes commercial sense and … fits into our national security framework.”

The protocol, which countries sign with the International Atomic Energy Agency, provides the UN nuclear watchdog with broad authority to sniff out suspected nuclear weapons sites.

Wright downplayed the importance of the protocol and argued that the agreement’s bilaterally negotiated safeguards, developed “in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency,” will be sufficient to prevent Saudi nuclear weapons development.

The IAEA’s director-general, Rafael Grossi, said Wednesday that he and the agency’s Board of Governors will have to review and approve the safeguards agreement.

“The idea is that we will have a number of extra measures … added layers of very stringent verification,” said Grossi. “(I) would never put forward an agreement that would not guarantee nonproliferation.”

It’s unclear how lawmakers will handle the Abraham Accords condition while considering the deal. The accords, an initiative dating back to Trump’s first administration, led several Arab countries to normalize diplomatic relations with Israel.

The diplomatic condition, which Trump announced after the deal was signed, surprised the administration’s own nuclear negotiators, two sources briefed on the matter told CNN.

Former President George W. Bush’s administration withdrew a 123 agreement with Russia from congressional consideration in 2008 after Moscow invaded the country of Georgia. Bush claimed that the invasion meant that he could no longer certify that the deal would not risk the “common defense and security” of the US, as required under the Atomic Energy Act.

Trump formally issued his certification on July 16, according to the Federal Register.

Scott Roecker, who oversees nuclear materials security work for the Nuclear Threat Initiative nonprofit, argued that the administration might simply refuse to finalize the agreement.

“We are entering uncharted territory with the Saudi 123 Agreement, and there is nothing that requires the Administration to finalize it once Congress has completed its review,” Roecker told CNN. “Presumably, it could hold out on that final step until Saudi Arabia agrees to normalize relations with Israel.”

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

CNN’s Ted Barrett contributed to this report.

Davis Winkie’s work at CNN is supported by a partnership between Outrider Foundation and Journalism Funding Partners (JFP). CNN retains full editorial control of the reporting.

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