President Donald Trump has approved a landmark civilian nuclear deal between the United States and Saudi Arabia that is expected to be announced Wednesday, a senior administration official told NBC News.
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The agreement will see the U.S. support the creation of a nuclear power program and see American companies build the program inside the kingdom, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly.
News of the agreement was first reported in The Wall Street Journal.
Congress will be required to vote on the agreement, but would need a veto-proof majority to actually block it.
The deal could pave the way for the kingdom to pursue its own uranium enrichment, likely raising fears of nuclear proliferation.
Asked ahead of the announcement about those concerns and reports of an expected deal, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that the U.S. would not “reach any agreement with any country in the world that leads to the risk of proliferation.”
The agreement comes as the war against Iran that was launched by the U.S. and Israel goes on. Trump has insisted that Tehran should not be able to develop a nuclear weapon, despite the Islamic Republic consistently denying that it plans to do so.
A normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia had previously been a U.S. requirement for any deal allowing the kingdom to enrich uranium, but Saudi leaders insisted this would not be possible without meaningful progress toward a Palestinian state.
