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Trump Is Triggering a Middle East Nuclear Arms Race

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thursday

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Earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump dropped a bombshell when he suggested that the United States was ready to sell F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, reversing an earlier ban. Speaking to CNN, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to warn that the state-of-the-art aircraft could significantly undermine Israel’s military edge in the region.

Two weeks on, Trump has dropped yet another bombshell, but this time the political and strategic damage to the Israeli government is incalculably greater. Washington has sanctioned a 30-year agreement with Saudi Arabia to share U.S. civilian nuclear power technology. Crucially, the agreement could allow the Saudis to establish a domestic uranium enrichment facility on their soil under U.S. oversight.

Earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump dropped a bombshell when he suggested that the United States was ready to sell F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, reversing an earlier ban. Speaking to CNN, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to warn that the state-of-the-art aircraft could significantly undermine Israel’s military edge in the region.

Two weeks on, Trump has dropped yet another bombshell, but this time the political and strategic damage to the Israeli government is incalculably greater. Washington has sanctioned a 30-year agreement with Saudi Arabia to share U.S. civilian nuclear power technology. Crucially, the agreement could allow the Saudis to establish a domestic uranium enrichment facility on their soil under U.S. oversight.

This is deeply embarrassing for an Israeli government that has long warned that an Iranian nuclear weapons capability could trigger a domino effect of proliferation throughout the Middle East. Trump’s deal could make this domino effect a reality—without even the consolation of a Saudi-Israeli normalization agreement that had previously been central to the Biden administration’s negotiating framework for further U.S. commitments to Saudi Arabia.

Israeli Economic Minister Nir Barkat did his best to project calm, remarking in an interview with Israel’s Army Radio on Wednesday that the Trump administration “has no interest in endangering Israel.” Barkat insisted........

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