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Israel in talks with US about Saudi nuclear reactors

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Israel has reportedly presented its red lines to the US regarding a nuclear deal being negotiated to build nuclear reactors in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia has been developing plans for a civil nuclear power industry as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s reform programme to reduce the country’s dependence on oil. The US, South Korea, Russia, France and China were all bidding for a multi-billion dollar contract to build the country’s first two nuclear reactors.

US-Saudi nuclear negotiations were revealed in March by Israel’s Channel 10 news. At the time, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman warned that his country would build nuclear weapons if Iran were to develop them. Also in March, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to US President Donald Trump about Israel’s concerns but was told that if the US didn’t build the nuclear reactors, other countries like Russia, China or France would.

Yuval Steinitz, Israel’s Energy Minister, travelled to Washington two weeks ago to meet with Energy Secretary Rick Perry, who is leading the negotiations with the Saudis. A senior Israeli official said that the government realised it could not stop the deal and decided to try and reach an understanding with the Trump administration regarding its parameters.

Among the parameters presented were a “no surprises policy,” that would assure Israel of full transparency, including being informed of the specific nuclear equipment Saudi Arabia receives. Israel has asked for details of the exact locations of the nuclear reactors, due to nuclear safety, in addition to an assurance that Saudi Arabia will not build the “capability or the legitimacy” to enrich uranium on its soil and will return all spent nuclear fuel to US so they cannot reprocess it to create nuclear-weapons material.

Perry reportedly told Steinitz the US will take the Israeli concerns into consideration. Talks will continue when Perry visits Israel in October.