A bill has been reintroduced in the Senate by co-chairs of the Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control Working Group, which would require Congressional approval for any nuclear cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia.
The legislation is by Sens. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) It is called the “No Nuclear Weapons for Saudi Arabia Act,” and was first introduced in 2019 by Markey with then-Sen. Marco Rubio, now Secretary of State.
The current version of the bill is cosponsored by Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
“Trump launched a war in part to stop the possibility of Iran pursuing a nuclear weapon,” Merkley said in a March 25 press release. “Yet Trump’s deal would reportedly allow Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium, reprocess nuclear reactor fuels, and forego inspections at many Saudi nuclear facilities.”
Late in March, while a head arms control official at the State Department was testifying to Congress, Democratic lawmakers criticized a civil nuclear agreement, or 123 agreement, that is in the works with Saudi Arabia. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said Saudi Arabia had reservations about some protocols that normally go into such agreements to ensure the country uses any nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. Such protocols include inspection of all nuclear sites and prohibition of reprocessing and enrichment.
“This is a massive invitation for Saudi Arabia to pursue development of a nuclear weapon,” Merkley said. “Such nuclear proliferation would damage the security of the United States and the security of nations throughout the region.”