U.S. intelligence assesses Saudi Arabia wants to keep a nuclear-weapons option open, The Washington Post reports. The July U.S.-Saudi deal for four nuclear plants is under 90-day congressional review; some Democrats fear it could allow enrichment near 20%.
Trump publicly stressed that the deal would involve no enrichment of material, but the article describes its written terms as less restrictive than other agreements under Article 123 of the U.S. Atomic Energy Act. Democrats warn that enriched uranium could be diverted for weapons; the 2015 Iran nuclear deal capped enrichment at 3.67% for 15 years.
Congress can block the deal with enough votes. In a Friday letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Senators Ed Markey and Jeff Merkley criticized what they called looser restrictions. Merkley cited Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s 2018 statement that Saudi Arabia would develop nuclear weapons if Iran did; he said abandoning that goal should mean giving up domestic enrichment and reprocessing and accepting extensive International Atomic Energy Agency inspections.
