U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that Saudi Arabia would need to establish diplomatic ties with Israel under the Abraham Accords as part of a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement, adding that the proposed deal would not permit uranium enrichment.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said recognition by Saudi Arabia, a regional power and home to Islam's holiest sites, would mark a "historic leap" forward for peace in the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia has resisted a concerted push by the U.S. to join the so-called Abraham Accords with Israel, insisting on a pathway to a Palestinian state before it offers recognition.
The deal announced Wednesday to establish a civilian nuclear program in the Gulf kingdom "will be approved, but is totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords," Trump said.
Should it go through, the deal would generate billions of dollars for American companies and would be a major win for Saudi Arabia on both the economic and diplomatic fronts.
But with Trump's latest announcement, it was unclear whether the deal would ever see the light of day.
If Washington "tries to force normalisation on Riyadh, it's not likely to work out very well", said H.A. Hellyer, senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies.
