Saudis must recognise Israel for nuclear deal, says Trump

US President Donald Trump, seen with his Saudi counterpart Mohammed bin Salman, says Saudi Arabia will not be able to enrich uranium under the deal The deal between the US and Saudi Arabia to help the Gulf kingdom develop nuclear energy is dependent on Riyadh recognising the State of Israel, President Donald Trump has said. "The Civil Nuclear Deal (There will be no enrichment of material!)... which pertains only to non-military use... will be approved, but is totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords," Trump said on Truth Social. It was not immediately clear if the condition of joining the accords was stipulated in the text of the nuclear deal - which has not been released - or that Saudi Arabia had agreed to that condition. Saudi Arabia has not responded to Trump's remarks so far. Trump's nuclear deal with Saudis jettisons longstanding US demands Yemen's Houthis attack Saudi tanker as US launches more Iran strikes White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday that Trump had discussed the condition to Saudi leaders on numerous previous occasions. "He has said if they don't join the Abraham Accords, the deal is off," she said. "So we'll continue to have those conversations with our Saudi counterparts moving forward." Trump's comments come come after criticism from experts that the US-Saudi deal announced on Wednesday could run the risk of future nuclear proliferation in an already unstable region. Some Republican and Democratic lawmakers expressed similar concerns, though Trump's Republican Party controls both the upper and lower chambers and opponents of the deal do not appear to have the votes needed to block it. According to the US Department of Energy, it includes a "peaceful nuclear co-operation agreement" and a "bilateral safeguards agreement". "Together, these two agreements lay the legal foundation for a decades-long, multi-billion-dollar partnership that advances several priority economic and strategic objectives, including nuclear nonproliferation," a statement from the department said. It said the agreement would be sent to the US Congress for review. Sudan, Morocco and Kazakhstan have since also signed them, too. Saudi Arabia has previously said it will not do so without the establishment of a Palestinian state, but the White House said the deal would be off if Riyadh did not join the accords. Israel has welcomed Trump's statement. Posting on X, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Saudi Arabia joining the accords "would be an historic leap forward for peace in the Middle East".