A historic agreement between the United States and Saudi Arabia is said to enable the Gulf country to pursue a civilian nuclear program. The US Energy Department characterizes the agreement as a “peaceful nuclear co-operation agreement” that will give “great access for American companies in the Saudi nuclear energy program”.
The agreement’s text was not made public, but according to US media, it would enable Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium in the future, which could be used to produce nuclear bombs as well as power plants. According to experts, that would be a first for the US and would increase the likelihood of nuclear proliferation in an already dangerous area in the future.
The US Department of Energy stated that a “bilateral safeguards agreement” was signed in addition to the cooperation agreement.The announcement states, “Together, these two agreements set the legal groundwork for a multi-billion-dollar, decades-long partnership that advances several priority economic and strategic objectives, including nuclear nonproliferation.
In a statement, the Saudi government stated that the agreement “represents an extension of existing co-operation between the two countries in the energy sector” and that the Saudi leader’s visit to Washington in November of last year was the reason behind it.
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