ALBAWABA - The Trump administration drafted an agreement allowing Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium without safeguards preventing nuclear weapons development, according to sources familiar with the matter and documents reviewed by CNN.
The agreement negotiations concluded in October of last year, since then the document has hung in limbo awaiting Trump’s signature, with analysts speculating that the recent war regarding Iran’s nuclear enrichment is the reason for the delay.
Others believe that the delay is due to the draft potentially facing bipartisan disapproval blocking it from going into effect. We speculate that the draft is a bargaining chip used by the U.S. to threaten Iran that; if it decides to enrich uranium, its main rival in the region will enrich uranium as well.
The draft of the deal has still not been sent to Congress for review, a federal law requirement upon signing.
"We’ve come together on a deal for civil nuclear cooperation,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said at the time of the deal. “Together, with bilateral safeguard agreements, we want to grow our partnership, bring American nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia and keep a firm commitment to nonproliferation.”
The agreement currently serves as nothing more than a baseline legal framework for the U.S. to transfer nuclear material and technology to Saudi, with the transfers subject to additional review.
The main issue arising if the agreement is to be signed is that it doesn’t require Saudi to adhere to IAEA safeguards and regulations; instead relying on U.S. guidelines given in the deal.
Dan Joyner, a nuclear regulatory consultant and law professor at the University of Alabama, said he believes the benefits of the deal outweigh “the existence of some residual proliferation risk.” With the deal creating a commercial market for the U.S. nuclear industry.
However, the risk lies in that Russia or China would give the Saudis the terms they want with less effective safeguards. “How would the United States feel if Russia started pushing its own bilateral safeguards in lieu of more intrusive IAEA standards?” Joyner said.
