Trump Makes Terrible Nuclear Deals. This One Should Be Rejected.

Mr. Hennigan writes about national security for Opinion.

The most significant nuclear development in the Middle East in a generation now sits in the hands of Congress.

The Trump administration this week presented its nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia to lawmakers for review, opening the door for the kingdom to enrich its own reactor fuel.

President Trump has not publicly released the complete text of the deal, so it’s difficult to assess whether it aligns with American security interests. Unquestionably, the most provocative aspect is the prospect of enrichment — even if for peaceful purposes at the outset — because it could hand Saudi Arabia the technical means to pursue a nuclear device.

If it does go through, the accord could trigger a cascading effect across the region that culminates in a dangerous arms race. Washington should expect partners like the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Turkey to demand similar terms for programs of their own, threatening to reverse decades of U.S. nonproliferation efforts.

It now falls to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee to stop that from happening. Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act requires the committees to review such accords, colloquially called 123 Agreements. Congress then decides whether to let a deal proceed or reject it within 90 days while in session to halt it from moving forward.

Lawmakers should say no to this one.

Not only does the prospective deal complicate relationships with allies, it also brings the most elusive goal of the president’s war with Iran to the fore: a decisive resolution of Tehran’s nuclear program and retrieving all its highly enriched uranium. If Iran’s pathway to the bomb is not cut off completely, Saudi Arabia, its archrival, would be even more certain to develop a weapons program of its own, making the nuclear deal more dangerous.

In 2018, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia said his nation would “without a doubt” pursue a nuclear weapon if Iran does. Ernest Moniz, a physicist who oversaw the........

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