The United States and Saudi Arabia signed a nuclear cooperation agreement, known as a 123 agreement, on Wednesday, July 23, 2026. The deal establishes a legal framework for civil nuclear cooperation and uranium enrichment, sparking concerns in Israel and coinciding with reports that Iran has shifted its own enrichment activities to the Pickaxe mountain range.
The agreement, signed by U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, aims to help the kingdom develop a domestic nuclear energy program to meet growing energy demands.
The 123 Agreement and Saudi Uranium Enrichment
The nuclear cooperation agreement and a related bilateral safeguards accord will now move to Congress for review. These documents provide the legal basis for the U.S. to export nuclear technology and assist Saudi Arabia in establishing enrichment capabilities for civilian use.
Secretary Wright stated that the accords uphold the highest standards of nonproliferation and nuclear safety while strengthening commercial relations between the two nations. However, the inclusion of uranium enrichment has created a diplomatic friction point, as this capability is often viewed as a dual-use technology that could potentially be pivoted toward weapons production.
Israeli Concerns and the Normalization Collapse
Israel, which has never publicly confirmed nor denied the existence of its own nuclear arsenal, views the deal with apprehension.
The geopolitical calculus for Israel has shifted since these discussions first began under the Biden administration. Previously, Israel considered accepting Saudi enrichment plants as part of a broader normalization of diplomatic ties. Those negotiations largely dissolved following the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023 and the subsequent U.S.-Israeli war against Iran that began in February.
Ariel Levite, a senior fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, noted that the current Israeli government is hugely unhappy
with the deal but lacks recourse because they had previously consented in principle without receiving the promised benefits of normalization.
Iran’s Shift to the Pickaxe Mountain Range
While the U.S. moves forward with Saudi Arabia, Iran is altering its own nuclear posture. According to Amar Ujala, Iran has shifted its uranium enrichment program from previous sites to a new mountain range known as Pickaxe.
Reports indicate that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has moved essential centrifuges for enrichment into this mountainous region. This move comes during a period of extreme volatility; the U.S. and Iran have been in a state of war for approximately four months, punctuated by a brief ceasefire that required Iran to halt the advancement of its enrichment program.
The Risk of a Regional Nuclear Arms Race
The combination of the U.S.-Saudi deal and Iran’s movements creates a volatile security dilemma. Saudi Arabia has historically linked its nuclear ambitions to those of Iran. In 2018, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told CBS News that while the kingdom did not want a nuclear bomb, it would follow suit as soon as possible if Iran developed one.
The internal dynamics in Iran have also shifted following the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had maintained an official ban on nuclear weapons. The Islamic Republic is now led by Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, with the IRGC exerting increasing influence over the program.
The current landscape presents a stark contrast: the U.S. is now facilitating enrichment for a partner in the Gulf while simultaneously engaging in direct military conflict with Iran over its own enrichment activities. This duality has led experts, as cited by Amar Ujala, to express concern over the contradiction of the U.S. preventing Iranian enrichment while assisting another regional power in the same process.
The immediate next step for the U.S.-Saudi agreement is the congressional review process, which will determine if the 123 agreement can be fully implemented amid the ongoing regional instability and direct clashes between U.S. and Iranian forces.
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