The United States and Saudi Arabia signed a tremendously ill-advised agreement Wednesday granting the kingdom access to American nuclear know-how. The Trump administration expressed hope that the deal will funnel billions of dollars to the U.S. nuclear industry and steady a relationship that has been rocked during President Donald Trump’s heedless war against Iran. But that war, which Trump is threatening to further escalate, adds to this already bad deal the element of awful timing.
Despite its shifting objectives in its war with Iran, the Trump administration has consistently said a big goal is preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. In truth, the Islamic Republic was nowhere near the “breakout” point, where a quick rush could convert a civilian nuclear program into one capable of producing weapons-grade highly enriched uranium, but the ongoing attacks from the U.S. and a potentially nuclear Saudi Arabia could change the regime’s calculus.
Even without Iran changing course on its nuclear program, the sudden announcement is poised to roil the geopolitics of a notoriously unstable region.
This is a preview of a column by Hayes Brown. Read the full column here.
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