President Trump has struck a nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia that grants the kingdom nearly identical nuclear privileges he has vehemently denied to Iran, creating a stark and troubling contradiction in his stated nuclear policy.
The Saudi deal permits uranium enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing after a joint study, while also allowing the Saudis to restrict international inspectors from certain sites they deem sensitive. This mirrors the very capabilities Trump declared Iran must never possess. Just months ago in April, Trump stated flatly: "There will be no enrichment of uranium" when discussing Tehran's nuclear program.
The disparity becomes more glaring when considering what triggered Iran's escalation. After Trump withdrew from the Obama-era nuclear accord, Iran ramped up enrichment to near weapons-grade levels. When Israeli and U.S. airstrikes began in June 2025, Iran further tightened restrictions on UN inspectors. Now Trump offers the Saudis a pathway that contains fewer safeguards than the 2009 agreement the Bush and Obama administrations negotiated with the United Arab Emirates.
Saudi Arabia, like Iran, is a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Yet the new deal provides minimal barriers to converting a civilian nuclear program into weapons development. The Saudi crown prince has previously stated his nation would pursue nuclear weapons if Iran did. Trump's arrangement has effectively given Riyadh the green light.
Financial incentives appear central to the decision. The agreement could deliver tens of billions in revenue to the U.S. nuclear industry through reactor sales. The principle Trump claimed was worth military action suddenly became negotiable for the right price.
Trump also seems intent on salvaging a relationship strained by his Iran conflict. The war has made Saudi Arabia wary of American security guarantees. Rather than protecting regional partners, the conflict handed Iran a pretext to attack U.S. military bases on Saudi and other Gulf Arab soil, targeting personnel, petroleum infrastructure, and facilities across the region. Trump's long-standing admiration for the Saudi crown prince's concentrated power may have sweetened his willingness to offer unprecedented concessions.
One modest benefit of the Saudi arrangement is a reduced role for Israeli pressure in Washington. An earlier version of the Saudi deal hinged on Riyadh normalizing relations with Israel. That requirement has been dropped. Saudi Arabia now insists on a "credible and irreversible path to a Palestinian state" before considering recognition, a condition Netanyahu actively opposes.
The shifting justifications for continued bombing underscore the deal's logical failures. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently pivoted to emphasizing Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz as the core issue. Trump has gone further, threatening war crimes including bombing Iranian bridges and power plants in response to Iranian attacks in the strait. Yet the waterway remained open until Trump's war prompted Iranian retaliation. A recent memorandum of understanding with Iran implicitly permits Tehran to charge transit fees after 60 days, effectively converting a manufactured crisis into a routine commercial arrangement.
Congress is now being asked to fund a deeply unpopular conflict it never authorized. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reports the war has cost $37.5 billion so far. He is seeking an additional $67.1 billion to continue operations. That figure approximates a year of rental assistance for 2.3 million low-income households or health insurance maintenance for 7 million people. With no coherent rationale remaining for the conflict, Congress should reject further funding and bring the war to an end.
Author James Rodriguez: "Trump handed the Saudis everything he said Iran could never have, then bombed Iran to justify a war that never made sense in the first place."
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