Trump: Saudi Arabia must join Abraham Accords for nuclear deal to proceed

US President Donald Trump said on July 24 that he and Energy Secretary Chris Wright had not discussed the US-Saudi nuclear deal before Wright was authorised to sign it, but said Saudi Arabia had always understood that joining the Abraham Accords was a condition for the agreement.

“We didn’t talk about it, but it was always understood — and Chris knew and Saudi Arabia knew — that if they didn’t join the Abraham Accords… I’m not going to do the deal,” Trump told reporters as Wright stood behind him in the Oval Office, Caliber.Az reports per foreign media.

“No, nobody got out ahead,” he said. “I just say that in order to do it, they have to be a member of the Abraham Accords, which has been very successful.”

Trump added the requirement the morning after the deal was announced, making Saudi Arabia’s participation in the Abraham Accords — a framework for normalising relations with Israel — a condition of the agreement. The move reportedly surprised some of the US negotiators involved in the nuclear talks.

“They and others didn’t want to do it because of the problem that they had with Iran,” Trump said on July 24 of Saudi Arabia normalising relations. “You don’t have that problem anymore, you don’t have a great power there anymore.”

The president said the condition was “very important for the future of the Middle East.”

“At some point, they’ll join,” Trump said.

By Sabina Mammadli