Israel, US must prevent uranium enrichment on Saudi soil, Lapid says
Opposition head Yair Lapid's cited three reasons for opposing independent Saudi enrichment of uranium.
Israel must demand from the US that no nuclear enrichment occur on Saudi soil as part of a deal between the two countries, opposition head Yair Lapid wrote in a post on X/Twitter on Monday.
Lapid’s comment came in response to US Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s remarks to reporters in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Sunday, according to which the US and Saudi Arabia will sign a preliminary agreement to cooperate over the kingdom's ambitions to develop a civil nuclear industry
Wright, who had met with Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman earlier on Sunday, said Riyadh and Washington were on a "a pathway" to reaching an agreement to work together to develop a Saudi civil nuclear program.
Why is Lapid concerned about uranium enrichment in Saudi Arabia?
Lapid has cited three reasons for opposing independent Saudi enrichment of uranium. The first is that no power in the Middle East should have the ability to complete the full nuclear energy production cycle on its own. Rather, similar to the United Arab Emirates, the Saudis could export uranium for enrichment elsewhere, and then import the enriched uranium for energy use.
According to Lapid, the second reason to oppose independent Saudi uranium enrichment is the threat of a regime change in Saudi Arabia that could have nuclear technology fall into the wrong hands. The third reason is that such an agreement could instigate a nuclear arms race across the Middle East.
Wright, on his first visit to the kingdom as secretary as part of a tour of energy-producing Gulf States, said further details over a memorandum detailing the energy cooperation between Riyadh and Washington would come later this year.
Wright did not mention possible normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia as part of the deal, which would likely require Israel to make concessions to Palestinians in the direction of Palestinian statehood. This “Palestinian component” may be hard to ignore, however, since an agreement between the US and Saudi Arabia will likely require the approval of two-thirds of the US Senate, and a number of Democratic senators may condition their support for the deal on the inclusion of a Palestinian component.