US President Donald Trump has submitted to Congress a proposed civilian nuclear cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia, while making clear that Washington will only proceed if Riyadh also normalizes relations with Israel, a US administration official told Reuters on Tuesday.

According to the official, the agreement was finalized in July and would permit American companies to provide Saudi Arabia with civilian nuclear technology. The administration formally transmitted the agreement to Congress on Monday.

Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Washington had not immediately responded to a request for comment.

It remains uncertain how submitting the nuclear agreement to Congress, which has 90 legislative days to review it, is expected to help Trump secure the broader diplomatic objectives he has attached to the pact.

“The president’s position has not changed that the agreement will only move forward if Saudi Arabia joins the Abraham Accords,” the US official said in an email, referring to the US-backed normalization agreements established between Israel and Arab and Muslim-majority countries.

The Abraham Accords were negotiated during Trump’s first presidency and resulted in normalization agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco in 2020 and 2021.

Just days after the nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia was reached in July, Trump reiterated that normalization with Israel would be required before the nuclear pact could take effect. Trump had also pursued a similar agreement with Riyadh during his first term.

Trump’s decision to impose that condition after the agreement was signed came amid criticism from Israel and its supporters, who had expressed concern that the administration was moving ahead without formally linking the nuclear arrangement to Saudi-Israeli normalization.

An official familiar with the matter previously told The Times of Israel that the nuclear agreement signed in July did not contain language requiring Saudi Arabia to establish diplomatic relations with Israel.

Former President Joe Biden had likewise sought a civilian nuclear agreement with Riyadh and favored connecting such a deal to Saudi normalization with Israel. In 2023, diplomats believed the two countries were approaching a possible normalization agreement, but Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and the subsequent Gaza war dramatically altered the diplomatic environment.

Saudi Arabia has insisted that it must first receive an irreversible pathway toward Palestinian statehood before it will recognize Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, however, has firmly rejected that demand.

The nuclear agreement is set to remain in effect for 30 years and envisions the construction of AP1000 reactors. The multibillion-dollar project could provide a major commercial opportunity for Westinghouse, which is jointly owned by Canada-based Cameco and Brookfield Asset Management.

The agreement has drawn criticism from some Democratic lawmakers and nuclear nonproliferation advocates because it does not prohibit Saudi Arabia from enriching uranium or reprocessing spent nuclear material. Both activities can potentially provide pathways toward producing nuclear weapons. In its 2009 civilian nuclear agreement with Washington, the United Arab Emirates accepted restrictions on those activities that have since been described as the nuclear “gold standard.”

The Trump administration maintains that the Saudi agreement contains the nonproliferation safeguards required under US law.

By formally initiating the congressional review process, Trump has created the possibility that lawmakers could ultimately permit the nuclear agreement to advance even without the normalization and proliferation conditions he has publicly emphasized, said Henry Sokolski, head of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center.

“This is hardly ideal if you’re serious about no enrichment and recognition of Israel,” Sokolski said.