Saudi nuclear deal in doubt as Trump adds new condition regarding Israel

Saudi Arabia would need to normalize relations with Israel to receive the U.S. nuclear technology it has long sought, President Donald Trump said Thursday, adding a new and potentially deal-ending stipulation to an agreement signed just a day earlier. The nuclear deal — which was fiercely opposed by Israel and others concerned about nuclear proliferation — is totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords, Trump said in a social media post. It was the latest whiplash-inducing policy shift from the White House, which had faced-down considerable political opposition to push forward with the Saudi deal. If the Saudis don't join the Abraham Accords, the deal is off, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said a few hours after Trump's post. It wasn't immediately clear how the Trump administration would modify a legal agreement that it has already signed with the Saudi government. The president's assertion that there would be no nuclear enrichment as part of the deal appears to contradict how people familiar with the deal have described it. Trump had not spoken to Mohammed in the hours since the social media announcement, Leavitt said. Nor did he speak to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, she said.