US signs landmark nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia: Why this could reshape West Asia

📌 Summary:

• US and Saudi Arabia signed a 30-year "peaceful nuclear cooperation agreement"; full text is not yet public
• Deal could let Saudi Arabia enrich uranium domestically at a US-built facility — uranium is fuel for power plants but can be diverted to make bombs
• A "bilateral safeguards agreement" was signed alongside, but US media reports say the guardrails may not be strong enough
• Two big risks flagged: (1) it could set off an arms race in a volatile region already home to a nuclear Israel and a near-threshold Iran; (2) the deal must be ratified by the US Congress, where Saudi Arabia lacks the deep support Israel enjoys
• Timing is sensitive: comes as US-Iran fighting escalates; Saudi Arabia hosts US bases targeted by Iran, and the Houthis just declared a "maritime blockade" against the Kingdom
• The pact reportedly followed a US-Saudi joint study and stems from MBS-Trump talks last November; US firms get "great access" to the Saudi nuclear energy programme
• US DoE frames it as a multi-billion-dollar partnership advancing "nuclear nonproliferation"; Saudi calls it an extension of energy-sector cooperation
• Secretary of State Rubio insisted the US would not sign any deal risking proliferation; critics (Sen. Edward Markey) condemned it as reckless

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS2 IR — West Asia power balance and India's Look West policy; global non-proliferation regime (NPT/NSG); stability of a region central to India's oil imports, remittances and diaspora.

📝 Prelims Facts:

• Enrichment raises the share of fissile U-235; low enrichment (~3-5%) fuels reactors, high (~90%) enables weapons
• Israel is an undeclared nuclear-weapon state; Iran is described as near-threshold
• The pact is a 30-year agreement requiring ratification by the US Congress

🔑 Key Term: Uranium enrichment — the process of increasing the proportion of the fissile isotope U-235 in uranium; reactor-grade is low-enriched, weapons-grade is highly enriched.