about anything and everything (see Reflection Pool Fiasco)...he can't ever be trusted. Thanks to DJT, we are on the cusp of Iran and Saudi Arabia being able to produce nuclear weapons...and it could not have happened without MAGA votes.
...from the NYT article...
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Nonetheless, debate over the accord is likely to be fierce. To get the deal done with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s 40-year-old de facto leader, Mr. Trump had to agree to terms that may limit international inspectors from going to any sites in the country that they think could be a pathway to diverting fuel to weapons projects.
And he agreed that, after a joint study with Saudi Arabia on the economics of producing nuclear fuel, the Saudis may be allowed to enrich uranium or reprocess plutonium on their soil.
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday night that Mr. Trump had approved the agreement.
Prince Mohammed has vowed he would build nuclear weapons if Iran does so, even insisting in one interview he would do so “without a doubt.”
Iran has had a nuclear program that it says is intended for civilian use, though it has enriched uranium to near weapons grade following Mr. Trump’s withdrawal in 2018 from an Obama-era nuclear deal. Mr. Trump then ordered U.S. forces to join with Israel to attack Iran’s nuclear sites in June 2025, and to start a waragainst Iran this February.
Mr. Trump and Prince Mohammed agreed to proceed with U.S.-Saudi civilian nuclear cooperation during a visit to the White House by the prince last November. U.S. and Saudi officials have been in talks on a plan since then. They were finalizing the details this spring and summer, and aimed to share the plan with Congress soon, The New York Times reported earlier this month.
The agreement includes two secret side letters reached with the Saudis. The administration is expected to argue they contain proprietary business information and deal with sensitive national security issues. But some members of Congress may not be willing to vote for the accord until the letters are all made public.
The type of deal that the Trump administration has reached with Saudi Arabia is called a 123 Agreement (pronounced 1-2-3), which establishes a legally binding framework between nations on nuclear cooperation. The obligations of such an agreement are aimed at ensuring non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. The United States has 26 such agreements with 51 governments and the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Mr. Trump’s concessions to the Saudis on the terms of the nuclear deal are significant. When the United States entered into a similar agreement with the United Arab Emirates, which went into force in 2009, there were far more restrictive conditions. The U.A.E. agreed to the stringent inspections, signing what is called an “additional protocol” with the International Atomic Energy Agency. And it agreed to forgo the right to produce its own fuel, cutting off the possibility that it would have the infrastructure to produce a weapon.
That agreement became known as the “gold standard” for nuclear nonproliferation. And while the administration plans to argue that it will have other restrictions in place — including joint partnerships with the Saudis that will allow Washington to keep a close eye on the kingdom’s program — the fact remains that Mr. Trump has retreated from the restrictions negotiated by the Bush and Obama administrations.
While the bulk of the negotiations with the U.A.E. took place while President George W. Bush was in office, it was finished by President Barack Obama and went into effect in 2009.
During the first Trump administration, Thomas J. Barrack Jr., a businessman and top fund-raiser for Mr. Trump, proposed to the White House that U.S. companies, including his own private equity firm, help Saudi Arabia build nuclear power plants. That proposal stalled, in part because of Saudi reluctance to agree to American nonproliferation policies.