WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa Brad Sherman (CA-32), and the co-chairs of the Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control Working Group in the House of Representatives, Representative John Garamendi (CA-08) and Representative Don Beyer (VA-08), issued the following statement in response to the recent announcement of a deal to provide Saudi Arabia with nuclear technologies without safeguards that prevent weaponization:

“As leaders who have long supported non-proliferation, we are deeply concerned about the failure of the proposed U.S. – Saudi civilian nuclear agreement to include key protections to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. It is unacceptable that this Administration would push forward a deal without comprehensive safeguards to prevent Saudi Arabia from weaponizing the nuclear technology that President Trump has agreed to give them. Without these safeguards, we could give Saudi Arabia the tools it needs to become a nuclear-weapons state – something Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman has openly aspired to achieve.” 

“If the Trump administration submits this so-called deal for the required Congressional review, we will take all available steps, including legislative action, to reject any deal that fails to include the safeguards necessary to prevent Saudi Arabia from developing nuclear weapons.   

“Any nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia should include the strongest safeguards, including both a requirement that the nation signs the ‘Additional Protocol’ with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) guaranteeing robust inspection of nuclear facilities, and agrees to the ‘Gold Standard’ prohibiting uranium enrichment and the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel—capabilities that are necessary to produce nuclear weapons. The Additional Protocol and Gold Standard are reasonable and are included in our nuclear cooperation agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which allows them to generate electricity efficiently without posing a nuclear weapons threat. 

“President Trump is currently waging a disastrous war against Iran ostensibly to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons. It was the United States that provided preliminary nuclear technology to Iran when it was ruled by a friendly, pro-Western monarch – and all of the technology in the hands of the Shah in 1978 fell into the hands of the Ayatollah in 1979. We cannot make the same mistake with Saudi Arabia.  

“Preventing Saudi Arabia from developing nuclear weapons has long been an area of bipartisan consensus here in Congress – because America’s national security depends on it. We will fight to make sure Congress rejects any nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia that fails to protect the American people from a nuclear-armed Saudi state.” 

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