The US on Thursday announced a deal with Saudi Arabia to develop a civilian nuclear programme in the kingdom.
The pact was signed alongside a bilateral protection deal, which lays the foundation for a "decades-long, multibillion-dollar partnership".
"These agreements reflect our two nations' shared commitment to strengthening US-Saudi commercial relations, delivering prosperity at home and security to our allies abroad," US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement.
Mr Wright said the agreements would "uphold the highest standards of nuclear safety and non-proliferation".
The US Energy Department said the nuclear co-operation agreement will increase US technology exports, reinforce global non-proliferation standards, deepen the US-Saudi partnership and create high-paying US jobs.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that US President Donald Trump had approved the agreement.
The US and Saudi Arabia have spent years negotiating a nuclear co-operation deal that would give the kingdom access to US technology while allowing American companies to compete for major contracts at Saudi nuclear energy sites.
One of the agreement's key provisions is for a study that could lead to US companies building a uranium enrichment plant in Saudi Arabia, the Journal reported.
The Journal reported that the new deal would last 30 years and could be worth tens of billions of dollars, with nuclear reactor maker Westinghouse Electric being a main beneficiary.
Other US companies would play important roles, while competitors from other countries would be shut out.
The deal, otherwise known as a 123 agreement, would require congressional approval, but that does not appear to be an obstacle, given that the Republican Party controls the Senate and the House of Representatives. It nonetheless will likely start debate among politicians concerned about the spread of nuclear technology.
Tim Callen, a visiting fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute, said he expected little resistance to the deal.
"Saudi wants it, the administration wants it and, from what I understand, there is little Congress can do to stop it," he said. "This is a high priority for [Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman], so I don’t think Saudi finances will be a constraint."
Mr Callen said the deal was part of Saudi Arabia's push to diversify its domestic energy supply away from oil. "This frees more oil for export over the longer term," he said. The move is also linked to the push for more energy-intensive data centres, he added.
Regional implications
The geopolitical consequences of Saudi Arabia developing a civilian nuclear programme with a possible pathway to enrichment could be significant.
Aarathi Krishnan, chief executive of Raksha Intelligence Futures, said Iran would regard the Saudi nuclear deal as a diplomatic gift, as Tehran has spent two years arguing that the non-proliferation regime is selective.
Tehran says that its civilian nuclear programme has been punished for geopolitical reasons disguised as legal ones, and that western guarantees lack credibility. A US-authorised Saudi enrichment pathway could reinforce that argument, Ms Krishnan said.
She said Iran would probably renew its push at the International Atomic Energy Agency and the UN's First Committee to accelerate rebuilding of its enrichment plants at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.
Those three Iranian sites were struck by the US during Operation Midnight Hammer in June 2025.
"Riyadh gains optionality, Tehran gains an argument, Ankara and Cairo gain a precedent, and Beijing and Moscow gain a stick with which to beat the American-built order," Ms Krishnan said. "The framework may well deliver its narrow objectives while leaving the region's nuclear architecture far harder to hold in place if any single bilateral relationship breaks."
The US-Saudi deal also highlights how significantly US-Saudi relations have shifted since Joe Biden left office. Mr Biden's political conditions over issues such as human rights and Saudi recognition of Israel has given way to a more transactional relationship focused on investment and security co-operation.
In Washington, the Defence Priorities think tank, which advocates for limited US foreign policy, called the agreement a "terrible idea".
"It goes against decades of US policy to give enrichment technology to a country that doesn’t already possess it, because civilian enrichment can form the basis of a nuclear weapons programme," the group said in a statement.
“Aside from the proliferation risks, uranium enrichment would give Saudi Arabia a potent source of leverage to extract future concessions from Washington, including new security guarantees, by threatening to weaponise its programme unless the United States promises enhanced military protection."
Opposition politicians in Israel reacted with alarm.
Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the opposition Yisrael Beiteinu party, called the agreement "completely unacceptable" and warned of "an insane nuclear arms race".
Former prime minister Ehud Barak, meanwhile, said the lack of a requirement for Riyadh to join the Abraham Accords is evidence of a loss of trust between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr Trump.
"The friction between them means that Trump acts without taking Netanyahu’s stance into account,” Mr Barak told Israel's Army Radio.
