US President Donald Trump has publicly declared that Saudi Arabia must join the Abraham Accords before Washington proceeds with a civilian nuclear agreement with the kingdom, formally linking the long-discussed deal to Riyadh's normalisation of ties with Israel. The remarks, made on 25 July during an event marking a milestone in America's civilian nuclear programme, mark the clearest public articulation yet of the conditions attached to the proposed US-Saudi nuclear partnership.

What Trump Said

Speaking at the White House event, Trump was unequivocal about the prerequisite. 'No, nobody got out ahead. I mean, I just say that in order to do it, they have to be a member of the Abraham Accords,' he said, responding to reports that negotiations on the deal had been finalised before he imposed fresh conditions.

Trump later reinforced the point: 'Saudi Arabia knew that if they didn't join the Abraham Accords, the deal's not — I'm not going to do the deal.' He added that any agreement would also remain subject to Congressional approval.

The Iran Factor

Trump framed Saudi Arabia's path to the Accords partly through the lens of a diminished Iranian threat. He described Iran as 'the bully of the Middle East' but claimed the country had been severely weakened. 'You don't have a great power there anymore,' he said, suggesting that Riyadh's historical hesitation — rooted in its rivalry with Tehran — no longer carried the same weight.

Separately, Trump confirmed that his administration was continuing nuclear negotiations with Iran while simultaneously maintaining military readiness. 'We're locked and loaded and ready to go, but we're talking to them,' he said, adding that Iran 'cannot have a nuclear weapon.' He named Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as among the senior officials involved in those talks.

US Nuclear Industry Milestone

The Saudi remarks came at an event where Trump announced that four privately funded advanced reactor projects had reached critical milestones, following executive orders signed last year aimed at accelerating reactor approvals and deployment. Trump claimed the United States was once again at the forefront of next-generation nuclear technology. 'We're leading the world in pioneering the next generation of nuclear power and there's nobody even close,' he said.

Russia, China, and the Broader Picture

Asked whether Russia and China were assisting Iran, Trump said both President Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin had indicated they would not become directly involved. 'I trust them,' Trump said, adding that any assistance from the two countries had 'not been major.'

This comes amid a broader US effort to reshape Middle East geopolitics through the Abraham Accords framework, which Trump brokered during his first term and has sought to expand in his second. Saudi Arabia's entry would be the most consequential addition to the framework, given Riyadh's religious and political weight in the Arab world. How the kingdom navigates the twin pressures of a US nuclear offer and domestic sensitivities around Israel normalisation will be a defining diplomatic question in the months ahead.