Hard number: Clemency denied

Trump adds Israel caveat to Saudi nuclear deal

The US president on Thursday said that the US-Saudi nuclear deal struck this week would be contingent on the Kingdom joining the Abraham Accords, a Trump-brokered 2020 pact that normalized ties between Israel and several powerful Arab countries. Saudi Arabia has in the past said it would only do that if Israel opens an “irreversible pathway to a Palestinian state,” something current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has consistently rejected. Under the nuclear deal, US companies would sell Saudi Arabia reactors and other technology to establish a civilian nuclear program, with a possible pathway for domestic uranium enrichment. This could, theoretically, give the Saudis the ability to produce a nuclear weapon. Critics say it lacks safeguards to prevent this from happening, and could spark a regional nuclear arms race. Iran’s moves to develop weapons-capable nuclear material were a major justification cited by the US and Israel for the war with Iran.