After holding up nuke deal, Trump says Riyadh will normalize ties with Israel ‘at some point’

US President Donald Trump repeats his demand that Saudi Arabia join the Abraham Accords, a deal normalizing its ties with Israel, in order for a recently signed US-Saudi nuclear agreement to take effect.

“In order to do it, they have to be a member of the Abraham Accords, which have been very successful, but it’s time now that they do it,” Trump tells reporters in the Oval Office.

He insists Saudi Arabia will establish ties with Israel “at some point,” in an apparent acknowledgement that such a deal is not likely to happen in the near future. A key obstacle to the deal has been Israel rejecting Riyadh’s demand to establish a pathway for a future Palestinian state.

Trump claims that countries such as Saudi Arabia had been hesitant to join the Abraham Accords due to Iran, insisting that the problem has been resolved due to the US strikes against the Islamic Republic.

Riyadh and other countries in the region have never cited concerns about blowback from Iran to explain their reticence to normalize ties with Israel.

The deal, inked this week, would see US companies provide nuclear energy to Saudi Arabia, and included the possibility of nuclear enrichment taking place on Saudi territory, a provision that alarmed experts in nuclear proliferation.

A previous version of that agreement, being negotiated during the administration of former US president Joe Biden, would have seen Saudi Arabia establish diplomatic relations with Israel, a goal long sought by Israel and the US.

Trump’s agreement did not include establishing Saudi-Israeli relations. But the day after the deal was announced, Trump said Riyadh would have to normalize relations with Israel for the agreement to take effect.

He repeats that demand in today’s press conference, claiming that Saudi Arabia would be more amenable to establishing ties to Israel now that Iran has been weakened in its war with the US and Israel.

“They and others didn’t want to do it because of the problem that they had with Iran,” he says of Saudi Arabia. “You don’t have that problem anymore. You don’t have a great power there anymore. You have a problem, but the problem is disappearing day by day.”

He adds of the Abraham Accords, “I think it’s very important. So, you know, at some point they’ll join.” He says that condition was always “understood” by the Saudis.

He also claims that enrichment will not be allowed in Saudi Arabia.