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Donald Trump Saudi nuclear deal

The Saudi nuclear deal contains a path to 20% enrichment, the level America spent years trying to keep Iran from reaching. The text shared with lawmakers outlines a two-year Joint Enrichment and Conversion Study, after which American companies could build a 5% facility on Saudi soil, with further study opening a route toward nearly 20%. Donald Trump posted on July 23 that there would be no enrichment of material, yet signed a July memo endorsing the accord and its enrichment pathway. Rep. Brad Sherman says the two-year consultation could be settled in two days and Congress would have no say in the decision. Blocking it takes a veto-proof two-thirds joint resolution, and the deal takes effect after 90 legislative days without one. The inspection regime stops short of the IAEA Additional Protocol that Iran was required to accept under the 2015 deal. The administration's promised ten-year Saudi commitment not to enrich alone or with foreign partners appears nowhere in the unclassified text. Mohammed bin Salman said in 2018 the kingdom would build a bomb if Iran ever did. Scott Roecker of the Nuclear Threat Initiative explains why 20% matters: at that level most of the work toward weapons grade is already done. The Security Council votes September 17 on whether Iran's sanctions monitors survive, with Russia and China expected to veto. Washington is spending a war to stop one enrichment program while writing another one into law right next door.

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Jolyon@jolyon

Follow

Donald Trump Saudi nuclear deal

The Saudi nuclear deal contains a path to 20% enrichment, the level America spent years trying to keep Iran from reaching. The text shared with lawmakers outlines a two-year Joint Enrichment and Conversion Study, after which American companies could build a 5% facility on Saudi soil, with further study opening a route toward nearly 20%. Donald Trump posted on July 23 that there would be no enrichment of material, yet signed a July memo endorsing the accord and its enrichment pathway. Rep. Brad Sherman says the two-year consultation could be settled in two days and Congress would have no say in the decision. Blocking it takes a veto-proof two-thirds joint resolution, and the deal takes effect after 90 legislative days without one. The inspection regime stops short of the IAEA Additional Protocol that Iran was required to accept under the 2015 deal. The administration's promised ten-year Saudi commitment not to enrich alone or with foreign partners appears nowhere in the unclassified text. Mohammed bin Salman said in 2018 the kingdom would build a bomb if Iran ever did. Scott Roecker of the Nuclear Threat Initiative explains why 20% matters: at that level most of the work toward weapons grade is already done. The Security Council votes September 17 on whether Iran's sanctions monitors survive, with Russia and China expected to veto. Washington is spending a war to stop one enrichment program while writing another one into law right next door.

5d