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U.S. and Saudis sign nuclear deal, contingent on joining Abraham Accords

▶ Watch Video: Here’s what’s in the U.S.-Saudi Arabia nuclear deal

Washington — The U.S. and Saudi governments have signed a commercial nuclear deal that could allow Saudi Arabia to have a civilian nuclear program on its soil in cooperation with American companies, the U.S. Department of Energy announced Wednesday. But a day later, President Trump said in a Truth Social post that the deal would not allow the Saudis to enrich uranium, and he stipulated the deal “is totally subject” to Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords to normalize relations with Israel. 

The text of the agreement, which has not yet been released, will go to Congress for review. 

Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Saudi Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman signed what the Trump administration calls a peaceful nuclear cooperation agreement, along with a safeguard agreement that the Energy Department says will lay the groundwork for a multibillion-dollar partnership to boost Saudi energy capacity. The deal could set the stage for a nuclear program for energy and other civilian purposes, not to build nuclear weapons.

CBS News previously reported the expected signing, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. 

“These agreements reflect our two nations’ shared commitment to strengthening U.S.-Saudi commercial relations, delivering prosperity at home and security to our allies abroad,” Wright said in a statement. “Rest assured, these agreements uphold the highest standards of nuclear safety and nonproliferation, while relying on the world’s best nuclear technology and scientists, designed right here in the United States.”

Mr. Trump on Thursday added that approval of the deal is contingent upon Saudi Arabia signing on to the Abraham Accords, a series of agreements that were reached during the president’s first administration to normalize relations between Israel and several Arab nations. It’s unclear whether the Saudis were aware of this when signing, but it was not mentioned publicly until Thursday morning.

“The Civil Nuclear Deal (There will be no enrichment of material!) being made between the United States Department of Energy and Saudi Arabia, which pertains only to non-military use such as the ones that Iran and UAE (and others) already have, will be approved, but is totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords,” Mr. Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “The United States is not opposed to Civil (Non-Enriched) Nuclear Facilities.”

Saudi Arabia has not yet responded publicly to the president’s social media comments on enrichment and the Abraham Accords. 

A reporter asked White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday why the Abraham Accords condition wasn’t mentioned when Wright announced the deal. 

“Well, look, the president is always the final dealmaker, as you know, and this is something he has mentioned on numerous occasions,” she responded. 

Leavitt confirmed that joining the Abraham Accords is a necessary condition of the nuclear agreement. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement, “Saudi Arabia’s joining of the Abraham Accords would be an historic leap forward for peace in the Middle East. Peace through strength.”

The deal would create the potential for uranium enrichment on Saudi soil, though that would be controlled by a contracted corporation and only after a lengthy study is completed, CBS News previously reported. A civilian program is for energy supply for things like AI data centers, and not a military program. 

The U.S. will want to see protocols and monitoring. 

A 1954 law requires congressional review of all nuclear cooperation deals with foreign countries.

Westinghouse Electric Company, which builds nuclear reactors, is one of the U.S. companies planning to help develop Saudi Arabia’s nuclear sector.

“The U.S. government’s announcement to launch a civil nuclear cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia is a landmark step that strengthens energy security, expands opportunities for U.S. industry and workers, and drives significant long-term economic growth and investment benefits for both countries,” said Westinghouse CEO Dan Sumner.

A Trump administration framework for civil nuclear cooperation had been publicly announced in the fall of 2025. At the time, Wright described it as including bilateral safeguard agreements to bring U.S. nuclear technology to the kingdom. At the time, Wright stipulated that this keeps a “firm commitment to nonproliferation.”

The original framework for this agreement was developed under the Biden administration, which a former U.S. official with direct knowledge described as requiring U.S.-only enrichment at a U.S.-controlled facility. It would also have been subject to congressional approval.

Under former President Joe Biden, the deal had been tied to a U.S. push to incentivize Saudi Arabia to follow through on the normalization of relations with the state of Israel. Normalization was also dependent on Israel providing a pathway to a future for self-determination by Palestinians, not necessarily a state of their own, and it offered investments and diplomatic representation. After the deadly terrorist attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and the launch of the war in Gaza, that deal was put on hold.

But fuel-rich Saudi Arabia was still interested in the nuclear energy cooperation, particularly given the high degree of energy supply needed for artificial intelligence. The late Sen. Lindsey Graham had continued to work on this effort through both administrations.

The Trump deal does not appear to be overtly linked to a foreign policy objective, though the administration is at pains to reassure regional allies of the U.S. commitment to their security amid the ongoing Iran war. Saudi Arabia and other regional allies have borne the brunt of Iranian attacks since the war began at the end of February.

The landmark deal signifies the strengthening alliance and trust between the U.S. and the Saudis. But the civilian nuclear deal is likely to irritate Iran, Saudi Arabia’s chief rival, which has long insisted on its right as a signatory of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons to maintain a civilian nuclear program.

Saudi Arabia will not be the first Gulf state with a civilian nuclear program. Back in 2009, the Obama administration signed an agreement with the United Arab Emirates that included a pledge for peaceful nuclear energy under nonproliferation controls.

A Los Angeles neighborhood was terrorized by a raging warehouse inferno. Now it’s tormented by the suffocating stench

By CNN
Los Angeles (CNN) — For eight brutal days, residents of Boyle Heights watched smoke billow from a burning warehouse and prayed the flames would spare their homes.There was no escaping the black pollution that choked the neighborhood then, and no reprieve now, even five weeks after the fire was extinguished. The smell of burning plastic has been replaced by something else: the pungent odor of rotting food, and everything that comes with it.The inescapable stench – equal parts sour and cloying – has settled like a thick haze over the neighborhood, baked by the Southern California heat.Boyle Heights locals say the stink is making them physically sick, and that swarms of flies and giant rats have followed the noxious odor into their neighborhood.When it went up in flames in mid-June, the warehouse contained 88 million pounds of frozen food, some of which burned in the blaze and some liquified. That amount of waste would fill roughly 440,000 curbside trash bins. Lined up wheel-to-wheel, they would stretch more than 200 miles, roughly the distance between Washington, DC and New York City.Now, cleanup crews are racing against the clock to remove what the fire left behind, including waste so toxic it needs to be sealed in hazmat containers. The City of Los Angeles has directed Lineage Logistics, the largest owner of cold-storage facilities in the world and operator of the repository, to clear the waste by August 13 — a timeline one company executive called “very aggressive” at a town hall last month.When the wind shifts, the smells from the warehouse waft miles away, even weeks after the fire was extinguished.But in Boyle Heights, the putrid scent of fermented food is a fetid constant. It lingers in the air and coats the mouth. 90% of residents in the predominantly Latino neighborhood said they noticed constant odors in a recently released county public health survey.In an effort to stymie the foul smell, part of the facility is wrapped in plastic sheeting while large fans spray odor-control mist around the warehouse. The food waste is sprayed with bleach, deodorizer and water before it’s covered and hauled to a landfill in Riverside County, east of Los Angeles.The near-tangible odor has infiltrated every corner of Alicia Naranjo’s home, which is six houses down from the warehouse. At first, the smell permeated the bedrooms, bringing with it sleepless nights. Then came anxiety and trouble breathing, followed by headaches, congestion, coughing and throat pain, she said in a raspy voice she attributes to the pollution in the air.“And then,” her sister Elsa Naranjo chimed in, “we got infested with rats.”“You see them jumping around from the walls,” she said. “Outside our house, in our property.”Rat traps, black plastic boxes with holes in the side, can be seen almost every ten feet along the ground, usually sitting underneath a hanging fly trap filled with dark clusters of dead and drowning flies.There’s one right outside Lisset Navarrete’s house, but she’s not convinced they’re effective for one main reason: the rats she’s seen are bigger than the traps laid for them.Navarrete said her physical symptoms began with pressure on her chest that moved to her stomach. She said the rotting scent permeates so much of daily life she loses her appetite. Her mother-in-law also fell ill while waiting in line at a nearby clinic, she said.“She just started throwing up, feeling dizzy,” Navarrete said, as she swatted a fly off her arm. “It’s just catching up to us.”Her family can’t turn on the air conditioning without it sucking in the odor, but on a 90-degree day, the aggressive Los Angeles sun only serves to thicken the stench enveloping the neighborhood.Lineage has helped to distribute almost 600 air purifiers and over 650 air conditioning units to households in the immediate neighborhood, a spokesperson told CNN. The company has also offered assistance for temporary relocation, utility bills and pest-control supplies.“Community support efforts to date total more than $3.3 million,” the spokesperson said in a statement.The City of Los Angeles has also pitched in to relief efforts, with Mayor Karen Bass declaring a state of emergency and sending mobile health care clinics to the neighborhood.“No company chooses to experience a catastrophic fire. But every company chooses how it responds,” Bass said in an open letter to shareholders. “Unfortunately, Lineage’s response has fallen short.”The smell of rotting food follows Juan Canil like a second shadow. Even when he leaves his home in Boyle Heights, it’s waiting for him at his auto shop located directly across from the Lineage warehouse.He described the same symptoms as the others: headaches, nausea, discomfort. But the stench is also seeping into his pocketbook. The strong smell and remediation work has continued to stall business for the auto shop owner.“Since the street is closed, I’ve lost a lot of work,” he said. “A lot of money.”As of Thursday, over 4,200 complaints about the odor have been reported to the air pollution regulatory agency, South Coast Air Quality Management District. The agency issued Lineage public nuisance violations for 25 days in a row.The regulators sent Lineage a letter last month, demanding additional odor control measures. In its response, the company said it had already implemented some of the measures and agreed to implement others but argued some AQMD demands would add “several months” to cleanup and worsen the odors.A Lineage spokesperson said the company’s top priority is completing the cleanup quickly and safely and it plans to rebuild the warehouse.With a pivotal election looming this fall, Bass has turned up the pressure on Lineage, directing city agencies to block the company’s plans.“The application is for a permit to repair the damage from the fire, which was not caused by the cold storage operations at the facility. This is normal course in the repair process and will not impact or distract us from the important work of cleanup,” the Lineage spokesperson said.Cold storage facilities are “critical infrastructure,” Lineage said. “Communities around the region have depended on them for over 100 years.”Boyle Heights is not the first time Lineage has faced allegations of community harm after a warehouse fire. Nearly 1,000 miles north of Los Angeles, legal action has already been taken against the company for its response to a different blaze.A Lineage Logistics warehouse caught fire in the small town of Finley, Washington, in 2024. It burned for nearly two months, more than six times longer than in Boyle Heights. Lineage believes the California fire began when solar panel contractors were working on the roof, while the Washington fire’s cause is undetermined.Finley residents sued Lineage on June 18 – one day after the Los Angeles fire broke out – alleging the company cut corners on safety and failed to act quickly enough after the catastrophic warehouse fire, allowing toxic smoke and contamination to devastate the community.“We are sympathetic that the Kennewick community faced a fire that was unique in many ways,” a Lineage spokesperson said in a statement. “While we cannot comment on the specifics of ongoing litigation, we vigorously dispute the lawsuit’s characterization of our safety record.”The spokesperson added, “there was no indication Lineage was at fault for the fire.”Residents near the Washington fire reported many of the same ailments now being described in Boyle Heights, including burning eyes, throat irritation, coughing, difficulty breathing, headaches, nausea and dizziness – symptoms attorney Will Sykes said persist for many of his clients today, some two years after that fire first broke out.Lineage reported a $51 million net gain from the Washington fire from insurance payouts, the company noted in a 2025 SEC filing. The company’s webpage dedicated to the fire response has since been taken down.As of Wednesday, Lineage has removed approximately 80% of the food waste from the Boyle Heights warehouse. The company has said the cleanup is complex and requires patience.But for people living around the warehouse, the concern is not just how long the cleanup will take, but how far its effects have already reached: into their homes, their routines and the air they breathe.During hours of public testimony Wednesday, dozens of Boyle Heights residents spoke about how the fire has affected their lives in front of the South Coast AQMD hearing board, which approved an abatement order Thursday requiring Lineage to conduct specific odor mitigation actions.The mayor urged the board to leverage its full enforcement authority to issue the order, including maximum financial fines against Lineage.“Massive headaches have impeded me from living my daily normal life,” Carla Martinez, a local, testified. “It has prevented me from going to work, going to the grocery store for supplies, and just overall daily activities. Being stuck inside with no A/C in this heat is unbearable, not to mention the cost of having the air purifiers running for a semblance of fresh air.”“If the headaches and the heat don’t get you,” she continued, “It’s the putrid smell…”“…the smell of death and decay that’ll get you.”The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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