Is Saudi Arabia Rushing Toward Normalization with the Israeli Occupation in Exchange for Uranium Enrichment?

Saudi Arabia has been seeking to normalize ties with the Israeli Occupation, but it has also been pursuing a civilian nuclear program that “Israel” opposes, according to diplomatic sources and officials.

The kingdom has not publicly linked the two issues, insisting that its condition for normalizing relations with “Israel” is the latter’s adherence to the Arab Peace Initiative, a proposal put forward by the late King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz in 2002.

The initiative calls for a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, the return of refugees, and Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Golan Heights.

However, a senior Middle East diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Riyadh had asked Washington to approve its nuclear program and to expand its defense cooperation with the United States, including a system of guarantees to prevent future administrations from reneging on arms deals.

“Israel,” widely believed to have its own nuclear arsenal, has expressed opposition to Saudi Arabia’s nuclear ambitions.

Israel Katz, the Israeli energy minister, said that “Israel does not encourage such things, and I do not think Israel should agree to this.” He added that “Israel” would work with the United States to ensure that any nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia would include strict inspections and safeguards.

The Times of Israel reported that these remarks came amid a flurry of contacts between Saudi and Israeli officials in recent months, as both countries share a common concern over Iran’s regional influence and nuclear activities.

 

The Iranian Predicament

A prominent Israeli scholar and security expert urged his country to reject what he called the “irresponsible” American stance on Iran’s nuclear program, as the Biden administration seeks to revive a 2015 deal that The Israeli Occupation has long opposed.

Efraim Inbar, a professor emeritus of political science at Bar-Ilan University and the president of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, said in a statement that the United States was pursuing a “less for less” formula with Iran, offering to ease some economic sanctions in return for only modest concessions on its nuclear activities.

He said that such an approach would allow Iran to maintain its nuclear advances, which include enriching uranium to levels close to weapons-grade and developing the technology to turn it into a bomb. He also said that Iran showed no signs of moderating its hostility toward The Israeli Occupation or complying with any agreement.

“The American diplomacy wants to take the Iranian nuclear issue off the agenda, even if it comes at the price of a terrible deal,” Inbar said.

“It seems that Washington will sign any piece of paper that Tehran’s representatives will sign with.”

He attributed the American policy to a combination of fatigue from Middle East conflicts, distraction by other global challenges like China and Ukraine, and a low perception of the threat posed by a nuclear Iran.

He also accused Washington of being reluctant to use military force against Iran’s nuclear facilities, which he said was “the only way to stop its path to the bomb.”

Inbar also criticized the United States for failing to respond adequately to Iran’s aggressive actions in the region, such as attacking Saudi oil infrastructure, hijacking oil tankers, and targeting American troops in Iraq and Syria.

He said that Iran felt emboldened by its ties with Russia and China, its improved relations with some Gulf states and Egypt, and its support for its ally Bashar al-Assad of Syria.

He said that these factors gave Iran an upper hand in the nuclear negotiations and made it unlikely that any deal would satisfy the Israeli Occupation’s security concerns.

Inbar’s statement reflects the deep skepticism and opposition that many Israeli officials and experts have expressed toward the 2015 nuclear deal, which was brokered by the Obama administration and abandoned by the Trump administration in 2018.

The current Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, has said that it prefers a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear issue, but that it will not be bound by any agreement that endangers its interests.

The Biden administration has been engaged in indirect talks with Iran since April, hoping to revive the deal that imposed limits on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for relief from sanctions. But the talks have stalled since June, amid political changes in both countries and rising tensions in the region.

The United States has said that it is prepared to return to the deal if Iran complies with its obligations, but that it is also ready to pursue other options if diplomacy fails. It has also said that it is committed to The Israeli Occupation’s security and that it consults closely with its ally on the Iranian issue.

 

Persuading Saudi Arabia

As the Biden administration tries to revive the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, it is also seeking to sweeten the deal for the Israeli Occupation, a staunch opponent of the agreement, by persuading Saudi Arabia to officially join the Abraham Accords, a set of diplomatic pacts that normalized relations between the Israeli Occupation and several Arab countries last year.

But it is not clear whether Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, is willing to risk alienating the more conservative elements in his kingdom by establishing formal ties with The Israeli Occupation before he consolidates his power. After all, he already enjoys many benefits from the covert contacts that exist between the two countries.

Even if the United States can offer incentives that satisfy the crown prince’s demands, and he agrees to open an embassy in The Israeli Occupation, that should not tempt the Israeli Occupation to accept the trade-off that Washington is proposing: a nuclear deal that would allow Iran to inch closer to the bomb, fuel a nuclear arms race in the region and give Tehran more money to finance its aggression in the Middle East.

One of the incentives that Saudi Arabia is seeking from the United States is assistance in building a complete uranium production circuit, including enrichment, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. Saudi Arabia has uranium ore on its territory and wants to exploit them.

The Saudi leadership is interested in acquiring the same nuclear status that the Obama administration granted to Iran when it signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015, which lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for limits on its nuclear program.

But an American transfer of nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia would trigger a nuclear race in the region. Turkiye has already expressed interest in pursuing the nuclear option, and Egypt would likely follow suit.

A proliferation of nuclear weapons in the Middle East would be a strategic nightmare for the Israeli Occupation, which must do everything to prevent it, according to Inbar, who said that a Saudi embassy in the Israeli Occupation is not worth the strategic risk of a nuclear Middle East.