US and Saudi Arabia announce nuclear cooperation deal

The United States says it's reached a nuclear cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia. The deal will potentially allow Saudi Arabia to develop civilian uranium enrichment capabilities. The U.S. Energy Department says it's a decades-long, multi-billion dollar partnership that would include nuclear non-proliferation. Trump is expected to ask Congress for the agreement's final approval. Matthew Torres has more on the agreements. The Trump administration is calling this a peaceful nuclear cooperation agreement, something that will lay the groundwork for a multi-billion dollar partnership with the Saudis for decades. And under this agreement, the American companies are able to export nuclear technology, create jobs and have the capability of building a nuclear infrastructure in the kingdom. Saudi Arabia is a U.S. ally and for a long time has wanted a nuclear deal such as this one in order to help build up the electric grid. And so the Trump administration is really saying that this restores the United States of having that edge when it comes to the civil nuclear marketplace. And both countries say that this will help smooth their relationship, help deepen the relationship, while also upholding the nuclear security and safety standards and what they're calling nuclear non-proliferation. At the same time, this is coming at a time when the Iran war is escalating, when the tension is only growing and the United States, as we know, is doing this in order, they say, to prevent any kind of nuclear weapons program in Iran. The big question is why this deal now? We know under President Joe Biden's administration, he was almost able to strike somewhat of a similar deal, but that was incumbent on the relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia to normalize. And so under this deal, nothing of those details were mentioned. But certainly for both countries, it seems they're describing this really as a big win in order to have a better nuclear cooperation there in the Middle East. Matthew Torres, Al Jazeera, Washington.