On July 23, 2026, the United States announced a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia. The Department of Energy’s own release did not include any requirement that Riyadh normalize relations with Israel. Within hours, President Trump declared on Truth Social that the deal was now “totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords.” That condition was not part of the signed documents, not part of the negotiations, and not part of the Energy Department’s announcement. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed hours later that the condition had been added — as far as the president was concerned, the deal would not move without it.

As of this writing, Saudi Arabia’s government has not issued an official response.

The only signal to reach the public has come indirectly, through journalist Laura Rozen, who quoted an unnamed source described as close to Saudi thinking. That source dismissed Trump’s new condition in blunt terms: “It was signed. So nothing to renegotiate. Tweets don’t overturn signed agreements.” The source added that a direct Saudi response was unlikely, and that movement under Trump’s new terms was even less likely.

That is the closest thing to a reaction we have, and it is consistent with the Kingdom’s longstanding, publicly repeated position: no normalization with Israel absent a credible pathway to Palestinian statehood along the lines of the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative. That position hasn’t moved in two decades. There is no particular reason to expect it moves now because of a demand appended after a signing ceremony.

This distinction matters more than it might first appear. Trump could have attached any number of conditions to the deal — additional inspection requirements, a longer congressional review, revised enrichment caps — and Riyadh would have had room to negotiate, stall, or partially concede. Instead, the condition selected is the one position Saudi Arabia has held with total consistency for two decades and has never shown any sign of softening: normalization without a Palestinian statehood pathway.

We cannot say with 100 percent certainty that Riyadh will never join the Abraham Accords on those terms — certainty of that kind is rarely available Middle East politics........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)