The Trump administration has formally submitted a classified civil nuclear cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia to Congress for review, triggering a 90-day legislative clock — while simultaneously complicating the deal's prospects by insisting that Riyadh must normalise relations with Israel before it can take effect.
The document was submitted to Capitol Hill on Monday, as required by the Atomic Energy Act, the legal framework governing US nuclear cooperation agreements with foreign nations. The agreement itself was signed last month in Washington by US Energy Secretary Chris Wright and his Saudi counterpart. However, the day after signing, President Trump publicly declared that Saudi Arabia's participation in the Abraham Accords — the series of US-brokered normalisation agreements between Israel and Arab states first signed in 2020 — was a prerequisite for the deal's completion. That announcement caught Riyadh off guard and immediately cast uncertainty over the pact's future.
The agreement is notably unusual in that its entire contents are classified, a departure from standard practice. Previous so-called "123 agreements" — named after the relevant section of the Atomic Energy Act — have typically been made public, though some have included classified annexes. It remains unclear whether Trump's Abraham Accords condition is written into the classified document itself. Under law, the agreement will take effect automatically unless Congress passes a joint resolution of rejection within the 90-day review period, meaning no affirmative vote is required.
The deal faces obstacles on multiple fronts. Some US lawmakers have criticised it on non-proliferation grounds, warning that it could enable Saudi Arabia to pursue domestic uranium enrichment — a longstanding ambition of the kingdom — potentially triggering a broader wave of nuclear competition in the Middle East. On the diplomatic side, Saudi Arabia has stated clearly that it will not normalise relations with Israel without a credible path to Palestinian statehood, a condition that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has firmly rejected as incompatible with his country's security. If approved, the agreement is expected to run for 30 years and to involve American companies in building out the kingdom's civilian nuclear infrastructure.
The stakes are high for all parties. For the United States, the deal represents a commercial and strategic foothold in Saudi Arabia's emerging nuclear sector, competing against interest from other major powers. For Saudi Arabia, civilian nuclear energy is a key part of its long-term economic diversification strategy. But with the Abraham Accords condition lodged between the signing and the finish line, and with Israeli-Palestinian tensions unresolved, the agreement faces a deeply uncertain road to implementation.