Updated July 23, 2026 at 7:48 AM EDT
TEL AVIV — An agreement for U.S. companies to build and run nuclear energy plants in Saudi Arabia was met with alarm in Israel on Thursday, as the U.S. and Iran continued to trade strikes in the latest escalation engulfing the Persian Gulf.
The nuclear cooperation agreement, signed on Wednesday by the Trump administration with Saudi Arabia, gives American companies priority access to supply nuclear reactors and fuel to the Saudi nuclear energy program, according to an administration memo about the agreement seen by NPR. The agreement must be reviewed by Congress, which has 90 days to consider it.
Saudi Arabia is one of the world's largest oil producers, but the Gulf state has been trying to pivot to other energy sources. Its nuclear energy program is expected to last decades and be worth billions of dollars, according to the Department of Energy.
Nuclear power would allow Saudi Arabia to use less petroleum energy domestically and maximize exports as well, Matthew Bunn, a nuclear proliferation expert at Harvard University told NPR's All Things Considered.
"But they also want to provide the foundation, over time, for having more options to move toward nuclear weapons, should they feel the need," Bunn said.
While Saudi Arabia's crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has said the kingdom does not want a nuclear weapon, he also has said Riyadh will pursue one if Iran develops a nuclear weapon first.
Yoel Guzansky, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Israel, said what he found alarming was that the agreement appeared to let Saudi Arabia enrich its own nuclear fuel in-country.
"Saudi insistence on enrichment in Saudi Arabia ... was the thing that got [previous] negotiations stuck and U.S. administrations, one after another, did not permit enrichment," Guzansky said.
He said the agreement may lead the United Arab Emirates to reverse course on its own deal with the U.S. In the 2009 nuclear deal with the U.S., the UAE voluntarily gave up the ability to enrich nuclear fuel on Emirati soil, but the agreement allows it to ask for better terms if another regional country, such as Saudi Arabia, signs a nuclear energy agreement with the U.S. that contains more favorable conditions.
"You know, everyone can blackmail the U.S. They'll say we want enrichment. Okay, if not enrichment, give me the F-35," fighter planes, Guzansky added.
Netanyahu under fire for "failure" to prevent the nuclear deal
The deal was met with alarm in Israel, deepening concerns that Israel, a major American ally, and Trump are increasingly diverging on foreign policy and security.
Israel's former defense minister and foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman criticized the agreement on Israel's public broadcaster on Wednesday, saying it risked pulling the entire Middle East into an escalating nuclear arms race.
Ehud Barak, a former prime minister of Israel, told Israel's army-run radio station the agreement was a sign of the "loss of trust between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Trump."
Opposition leader Yair Lapid told an Israeli podcast: "I can't explain just how much this is a total failure of Netanyahu's. That's his job. His job is to prevent a Saudi nuclear program."
The agreement is likely to deal a blow to Netanyahu and his Likud party ahead of general elections scheduled to be held in October.
No "gold standard" anti-enrichment agreement
Under the agreement, Saudi Arabia is not permitted to reprocess American nuclear material for weapons, but the deal and a bilateral security protocol with the U.S. does not forbid the kingdom from using American-technology to enrich uranium or other nuclear fuel provided by third countries.
It also does not require from Saudi Arabia to adopt terms that would lead to greater oversight from the International Atomic Energy Agency, according to the memo seen by NPR.
The U.S. required these provisions known as "gold standard," from the United Arab Emirates in a deal inked under the Obama administration in 2009.
Saudi Arabia has been angling for nuclear cooperation with the U.S. for at least a decade, but concerns about the kingdom's human rights abuses and its possible aspirations to develop a nuclear weapon in the future stalled that cooperation.
Then-senator and now Secretary of State Marco Rubio co-sponsored a bipartisan bill in 2019 that would have banned nuclear energy cooperation with the U.S. unless Saudi Arabia was transparent about the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in a Saudi consulate and committed to the "gold standard" provision, forgoing uranium enrichment.
"Trump's and Secretary Rubio's hypocrisy is matched only by their recklessness. They are allowing Saudi Arabia, a belligerent and authoritarian nation, to develop nuclear weapons technologies while starting a war with Iran under the guise of preventing an Iranian nuclear bomb," Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass), who co-sponsored the 2019 bill with Rubio, wrote in a statement in response to the nuclear agreement.
The U.S. energy department argues the deal expands American technology exports.
The agreement also ties the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, a key ally, closer together at a time when the Gulf states, including the Kingdom of Saud, have paid a heavy price for aligning with the U.S. The Arab Gulf states continue to be hit by Iranian drone and artillery strikes in a war with Iran that the U.S. began.
Saudi Arabia, in particular, has had to contend with the economic shock of having to curtail its oil exports since Iran closed off the Strait of Hormuz and with Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels now attacking Saudi oil vessels in the Red Sea.
U.S.-Iran attacks continue as the Houthis strike tankers in the Red Sea
U.S. Central Command said it struck Iranian military and logistics sites on Wednesday in the latest round of attacks. Iran said it responded by targeting three U.S. bases in Kuwait, as well as U.S. military infrastructure in Jordan and Qatar.
The Jordanian military said Thursday it country's air force shot down four missiles and six Iranian drones.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran's army has enhanced its preparations for every enemy scenario, and new scenarios have been predicted and worked on," Iranian military spokesperson Mohammad Akraminia told Iranian state-run media.
In the Red Sea, Yemen's Houthi rebels said they attacked two Saudi oil tankers. The Saudi state news agency said one of its tankers had been hit and was on fire. It said the crew was unharmed.
Civil war has split control of Yemen between the Houthi group Ansar Allah and an internationally recognized government supported by Saudi Arabia.
The Houthis have also launched attacks in support of Iran, and most recently warned Saudi Arabia that they will not allow its tankers through the key shipping route Bab el Mandab near the Red Sea.
NPR's Jane Arraf contributed reporting.
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