US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the agreement reached with Saudi Arabia for a civilian nuclear program would require Riyadh to normalize relations with Israel, prompting praise from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump insisted there would be “no enrichment of material,” meaning the deal wouldn’t grant Saudi Arabia the right to enrich uranium on its soil.

The deal “pertains only to non-military use such as the ones that Iran and UAE (and others) already have, will be approved, but is totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords,” Trump wrote.

While former US president Joe Biden’s administration had conditioned nuclear cooperation with Saudi Arabia on the kingdom’s recognition of Israel, reports had suggested that Trump would not enforce this condition.

Trump’s post came after pro-Israel advocates — and reportedly Jerusalem itself — had expressed alarm over his administration’s decision to proceed with the civilian nuclear deal without conditioning it on Riyadh’s entry into the Abraham Accords.

The US Energy Department also made no mention of the Abraham Accords when announcing the nuclear agreement on Wednesday, indicating that this stipulation was not part of the documents signed by Washington and Riyadh.

Likewise, Trump’s insistence that Riyadh would not carry out nuclear enrichment appeared intended to counter a report in The Wall Street Journal claiming that the agreement could see US companies build a uranium enrichment facility in Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s post. Saudi Arabia’s........

© The Times of Israel