US Senate seeks declassification of Trump's Saudi nuclear deal
Summary
U.S. senators have requested that President Donald Trump's administration declassify and release information regarding a proposed civil nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia, including two classified "side letters." In a letter addressed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Energy Christopher Wright, the bipartisan group—led by Democrats Jeff Merkley and Ed Markey—emphasized the need for transparency given that similar agreements, known as 123 nuclear agreements, have typically provided public access to such documents. The proposal, which Trump submitted to Congress in August, includes plans for constructing AP1000 reactors and has drawn criticism for not imposing limits on Saudi Arabia's ability to enrich uranium or reprocess nuclear waste—measures that have been part of previous deals, like the one with the United Arab Emirates. Additionally, while Trump claims the agreement will only proceed if Saudi Arabia normalizes relations with Israel, the text of the deal does not mention this condition.