When the White House announced last week that it had reached an agreement with Saudi Arabia to help the kingdom develop a civilian nuclear program, the outcry from Israel and from concerned members of Congress was intense. Within 24 hours, President Donald Trump had posted a message on his social media platform trying to condition the deal—which had already been signed—on diplomatic normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel, a non-starter for Riyadh. Many observers viewed this as an effort by Trump to reverse course and kill the deal.
It is perplexing that amid a war against Iran, the principal stated goal of which is preventing Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, the Trump administration, however briefly, opened the door to nuclear enrichment by another Middle Eastern country. The fact that the agreement didn’t survive a full day only underscores the systemic failures in a process that deals with such a delicate and important issue.
Among other issues, it raises the question of how other countries with nuclear aspirations are viewing the current war against Iran. What lessons are they drawing from the current conflict as Trump seeks a face-saving way out of his war with the Islamic Republic, which is clearly battered but not beaten? The answer is not a simple one.