What happened? On Wednesday, the Trump administration officially concluded the so-called “123 Agreement” to work with Saudi Arabia on the development of a civilian nuclear power infrastructure. This type of agreement allows the United States to supply other countries with nuclear fuel and equipment on the condition that they comply with safeguards against the development of nuclear weapons.
But on Thursday morning, after the talks were literally over, Trump threw a monkey wrench into things – posting on Social Facts that the agreement “was entirely dependent on Saudi Arabia joining the respected and successful Abraham Treaty.”
The Abraham Accords are a series of agreements from Trump’s first term that normalized diplomatic relations between Israel and some neighboring Arab states. In fact, then, Trump says that Saudi Arabia will not get its 123 Agreement unless it officially recognizes the State of Israel. Something the Saudis don’t want to do the absence of the creation of a Palestinian state.
Why is Trump doing this? As usual with his strange last minute decisions, no one knows. There are a few leading guesses, though.
The first is that the agreement with Saudi Arabia was a bad idea on legitimacy. Top experts nuclear weapons,, Middle Eastand international relations more broadly they all said that the deal gave the Saudis what they wanted for nothing, ceding a significant portion of the leverage that Washington has over Riyadh.
The second is that some of America’s friends in the Middle East were angry. The Israelis are prime candidates, as they have long opposed any deal that would bring the Saudis closer to nukes. The Emiratis, often competing with the Saudis for regional influence, are other people; their nuclear deal with the US, inked in 2009, is more complicated.
What to take: Unless something changes dramatically, Trump has blown up the nuclear deal already signed – humiliating his negotiators and angering the Saudis.
And so, it’s time to leave…
As of today, we are officially two weeks out The first NFL preseason game. Our long national nightmare of calling soccer “football” is almost over.
