After President Biden’s national security adviser met with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this weekend, the Saudi foreign ministry said Sunday the Kingdom was close to finalizing a security deal with the U.S.
Official statements by the White House and the Kingdom did not say what the two sides discussed, but media, citing sources, reported that a civilian Saudi nuclear program backed by the U.S. was among the topics.
Sullivan’s meeting with Prince Mohammed followed an April 29 meeting between the crown prince and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. A State Department spokesperson said in a subsequent press briefing that the sides were “very close” to an agreement on a “bilateral” agreement.
The White House did not immediately reply to a request to comment on Monday.
Sullivan visited the Kingdom with the war between Israel and Hamas in its eighth month. Amid the escalating tension in the Middle East, to which on Sunday was added the death of Iran’s president, the Biden administration has been negotiating with the Saudis, who have long sought a civilian nuclear power program but have also not committed to forgoing domestic uranium enrichment.
U.S. lawmakers have kept their finger on the pulse of this issue.
In a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) asked Bonnie Jenkins, undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security at the State Department, about how countries such as Israel and Iran might perceive a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia that allowed the Kingdom to enrich uranium.
“Isn’t there clearly a ripple effect in the region if we do not require the application of the gold standard in an agreement with Saudi Arabia?” Murphy said while questioning Jenkins. “Isn’t it just common sense? … If Saudi Arabia has the ability to domestically enrich, that would impact the desire of other countries in the region to be able to domestically enrich?”
Earlier in May, the pacifist, anti-nuclear Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) wrote a letter to President Biden asking that any nuclear deal with the Saudis include a 123 Agreement, also known as the gold standard, which requires any country accepting exports of U.S. nuclear technology to commit to a peaceful nuclear program.
Media have widely reported that Prince Mohammed has said that if Iran develops nuclear weapons, Saudi Arabia will develop nuclear weapons in turn.
