TEL AVIV — An agreement for U.S.companies to build and run nuclear energy plants in Saudi Arabia was met with alarm in Israel on Thursday, as the U.S.
and Iran continued to trade strikes in the latest escalation engulfing the Persian Gulf.The nuclear cooperation agreement, signed on Wednesday by the Trump administration with Saudi Arabia, gives American companies priority access to supply nuclear reactors and fuel to the Saudi nuclear energy program, according to an administration memo about the agreement seen by NPR.The agreement must be reviewed by Congress, which has 90 days to consider it.Saudi Arabia is one of the world's largest oil producers, but the Gulf state has been trying to pivot to other energy sources.
Its nuclear energy program is expected to last decades and be worth billions of dollars, according to the Department of Energy.Nuclear power would allow Saudi Arabia to use less petroleum energy domestically and maximize exports as well, Matthew Bunn, a nuclear proliferation expert at Harvard University told NPR's All Things Considered."But they also want to provide the foundation, over time, for having more options to move toward nuclear weapons, should they feel the need," Bunn said.While Saudi Arabia's crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has said the kingdom does not want a nuclear weapon, he also has said Riyadh will pursue one if Iran develops a nuclear weapon first.The deal was met with alarm in Israel, deepening concerns that Israel, a major American ally, and Trump are increasingly diverging on foreign policy and security.Israel's former defense minister and foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman criticized the agreement on Israel's public broadcaster on Wednesday, saying it risked pulling the entire Middle East into an escalating nuclear arms race.Ehud Barak, a former prime minister of Israel, told Israel's army-run radio station the agreement was a sign of the "loss of trust between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Trump...