Best of Both Sides: Saudi-US deal is a recipe for nuclear proliferation

US President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. (File Photo) 5 min readJul 31, 2026 06:23 AM IST First published on: Jul 31, 2026 at 06:23 AM IST Current US policies seem tailored to engender a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. Donald Trump recently approved an agreement with Saudi Arabia (KSA) nominally for the transfer of nuclear energy technologies, but one that notably lacked the types of safeguards against non-proliferation that the US normally attaches to such agreements. There has thus been unease that there are no controls in place preventing KSA from enriching fissile materials, especially in light of reports that KSA has announced it would match Iran’s nuclear programme. Does the President know about the apparent deficiencies in this agreement regarding