The stark contrast between Donald Trump’s nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia and his nuclear demands for Iran would be comical if not so tragic. Trump has handed the Saudis the same nuclear options he swore Iran would never have.

To make matters worse, Trump seems to have offered the Saudis this sweetheart deal to make amends for his disastrous war of choice with Iran. Meanwhile, he continues to bomb Iran in a push to open the strait of Hormuz, which was not closed until Trump launched his counterproductive war.

As recently as this past April, Trump reiterated in discussing Iran: “There will be no enrichment of uranium.” That goal had become more urgent because, once Trump ripped up the nuclear accord negotiated by Barack Obama, Iran stepped up its enrichment to near the level needed for an atomic bomb. When Israel and the United States started bombing Iran in June 2025, Iran also barred independent UN inspectors.

So what does Trump offer the Saudis? The possibility, after a joint study, to enrich uranium (and reprocess spent atomic fuel) and to bar inspectors from certain sites that they might deem suspicious. The lack of inspectors would mean there is little to prevent the Saudi government from transforming a civilian nuclear program into a clandestine weapons operation, despite Saudi Arabia (like Iran) being a signatory of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The Saudi crown prince has said that his country would develop a nuclear weapon if Iran did.........

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