White House: Saudi nuclear deal void without Israel ties

The White House has declared that a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia will be invalidated if the kingdom does not normalize relations with Israel. Caroline Levitt, a White House spokesperson, confirmed this on July 23, stating that former President Donald Trump had made the deal contingent on Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords.

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Former President Trump made it clear that if they do not join the Abraham Accords, the deal is off.

Levitt indicated that discussions with Saudi officials on this matter would continue. The U.S. Energy Department had announced the signing of a peaceful nuclear cooperation agreement and a separate bilateral safeguards agreement with Saudi Arabia the previous day. However, at that time, no mention was made of normalizing relations with Israel.

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We will continue to have these discussions with the Saudis.

Former President Trump had previously stated on his social media platform, Truth Social, that the agreement was "entirely dependent" on Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords. This statement effectively introduced a new condition for the deal within a single day. The Abraham Accords, facilitated during Trump's first administration, established normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab nations, including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

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Saudi Arabia's accession to the Abraham Accords, which are very much respected and successful.