Best of Both Sides: A Saudi reactor is not a Saudi bomb

Does the US-Saudi nuclear deal increase the risk of an arms race in West Asia? (Illustration: C R Sasikumar) 5 min readJul 31, 2026 06:20 AM IST First published on: Jul 31, 2026 at 06:20 AM IST The verdict on the Saudi civil nuclear agreement arrived before the text itself. On July 22, Washington and Riyadh signed a Section 123 agreement and a safeguards accord. Their texts remain unpublished, and the agreement awaits congressional review. President Trump then said there would be no enrichment and that he would not proceed unless Saudi Arabia joined the Abraham Accords, leaving the deal’s meaning and future more uncertain. Washington and Riyadh began the process in 2008 with a memorandum on peaceful nuclear cooperation. Negotiations continued under Barack Obama, the first Trump administrat