Saudi Arabia and the United States have signed a joint declaration on civil nuclear energy that “builds the legal foundation for a decades-long, multi-billion-dollar nuclear energy partnership,” the White House announced in a statement on Tuesday.
The agreement also confirms “that the United States and American companies will be the Kingdom’s civil nuclear cooperation partners of choice; and ensures that all cooperation will be conducted in a manner consistent with strong nonproliferation standards,” the statement added.
For his part, US Energy Secretary Christopher Wright said the “historic” deal was made possible because of US President Donald Trump’s “broad vision of prosperity at home and peace abroad, transforming the Middle East into a region now focused on commerce, not conflict.”
“Today was historic as the US and Saudi Arabia came together on a civil nuclear cooperation deal. Together, with bilateral safeguard agreements, we want to grow our partnership, bring American nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia and keep a firm commitment to nonproliferation,” he said in a post on X.
The announcement comes as the two countries signed several other landmark bilateral agreements during a White House meeting between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and President Trump, according to Saudi Ambassador to the United States Princess Reema bin Bandar.
Trump also announced that he was designating Saudi Arabia as a major non-NATO ally, and the two sides revealed they had signed agreements on arms sales, artificial intelligence and critical minerals.
During a formal black-tie dinner at the White House later on Tuesday, Trump said he was “taking our military cooperation to even greater heights” by designating Saudi Arabia a major non-NATO Ally, a status that provides a US partner with military and economic privileges but does not entail security commitments.
The White House fact sheet statement also said the two sides signed a Strategic Defense Agreement, which “fortifies deterrence across the Middle East,” makes it easier for US defense firms to operate in the country and secures “new burden-sharing funds from Saudi Arabia to defray US costs.”
The White House also revealed Trump had approved future deliveries of F-35 fighter jets and the Kingdom had agreed to purchase 300 American tanks.
The sale of the stealth fighter jets to the Kingdom, which has requested to buy 48 of the advanced aircraft, would mark the first US sale of the advanced fighter jets to Riyadh, a significant policy shift.
Until now, Israel has been the only country in the Middle East to have the F-35.
During the meeting at the Oval Office with President Trump, the Saudi Crown Prince said that the Kingdom will increase investments in the United States to $1 trillion.
“I believe, Mr. President, today and tomorrow, we’re going to announce that we are going to increase that 600 billion to almost $1 trillion investment, real investment and real opportunity by details in many areas,” MBS told Trump during a press conference in the Oval Office.
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