The Trump administration has greenlit Saudi Arabia's nuclear enrichment project, but with no safeguards in place to prevent the development of a bomb, CNN reported on Friday.
The draft deal, viewed by the news outlet, showed Washington's support for Riyadh’s civilian nuclear programme is still awaiting President Donald Trump’s signature, despite US-Saudi negotiations concluding in October.
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The Saudi push to be included under the US’s nuclear umbrella was a key issue during the Saudi crown prince's visit to the White House in November last year.
“It would pull them out of the Pakistanis’ nuclear umbrella and make the Saudis feel better than the Qataris," he said at the time.
The language in the document also leaves room for Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium, as it stipulates “additional safeguards and verification measures to the most sensitive areas of potential nuclear cooperation" between the two countries, including enrichment and reprocessing, the report said.
In nuclear agreements with foreign governments, for example, the UAE, the US made cooperation conditional on commitments that they will not enrich uranium or reprocess spent nuclear fuel. »
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