Report: Netanyahu considering agreeing to Saudi uranium enrichment

Israeli officials are quietly working with the Biden administration on a proposal to set up a US-run uranium-enrichment operation in Saudi Arabia as part of a complex three-way deal to establish official diplomatic relations between the two Middle Eastern countries, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing US and Israeli officials.

According to the report, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directed top Israeli nuclear and security specialists to cooperate with US negotiators as they try to reach a compromise that could allow Saudi Arabia to become the second country in the Middle East, after Iran, to openly enrich uranium.

Negotiations between the US and Saudi Arabia regarding the normalization of ties with the Jewish state have been ongoing for the past several months. Among the Saudi demands, in addition to concessions to the Palestinians, is a civil uranium enrichment program run by the Americans.

“On the nuclear issue, we’ve seen completely eye to eye right from the start. On what we cannot do and what it is we might be able to do,” said a senior Israeli official. The Israeli official said they would want to put “a lot” of safeguards on any Saudi enrichment program.

“Whatever is done regarding civil nuclear cooperation with Saudi Arabia or anybody else will meet stringent US nonproliferation standards,” the US official said. READ MORE