The expert spoke about the struggle for markets against the background of Washington's agreement with Riyadh

The agreement between the United States and Saudi Arabia on the construction of a nuclear power plant in the kingdom, if approved by the American Congress, will be one of the most significant changes in Washington's Middle East policy in recent years. Vasily Ostanin-Golovnya, a researcher at the Department of the Near and Post-Soviet East of the INION RAS, expressed this opinion on Thursday, July 23.

He noted that this is not just about building a nuclear power plant, in fact, Washington is ready for the first time to allow the possibility of uranium enrichment in Saudi Arabia, although under American control.

"So far, the United States has followed a much tougher line, considering uranium enrichment a potential step towards the creation of nuclear weapons. For Washington, this deal solves several tasks at once: the business of the nuclear industry, ousting Russia and China, and turning Riyadh into a counterweight to Iran," the expert said in an interview with the Focus Mail.

He added that these are tens of billions of dollars of orders for the American nuclear industry, and the White House is trying to prevent Russia or China from occupying the Saudi nuclear market.

According to Ostanin-Golovny, the Americans expect to maintain political and technological control over the kingdom by integrating it into their own regulatory system.

"If we consider the situation in a regional context, the consequences for the Middle East may be much more serious than the deal itself. If Saudi Arabia gets the right to enrich its own uranium, it sets a precedent. Other states in the region may also require similar conditions," warned Ostanin-Golovnya.

He added that the formation of a kind of latent nuclear zone could accelerate, where several countries would possess technologies that would make it possible to move relatively quickly from a peaceful atom to the creation of enriched uranium suitable for weapons.

Genie out of the bottle: The US lifted the taboo on uranium enrichment for Saudi Arabia

Experts fear that Ankara and Cairo will follow Riyadh to the nuclear bomb.

On the same day, US President Donald Trump announced that Saudi Arabia would not enrich nuclear materials as part of an upcoming agreement with the United States on cooperation in the field of peaceful nuclear energy. According to him, the document will deal exclusively with the non-military use of atomic energy.

The American leader clarified that Washington would approve the agreement, but for this, Riyadh must join the Abraham Agreements, which were concluded in 2020-2021 to normalize Israel's relations with Arab countries.

The Wall Street Journal reported on July 21 that Trump officially approved an agreement on Washington's support for Saudi Arabia's peaceful nuclear program, RT reports. It was clarified that the new document is designed for 30 years and provides for the allocation of tens of billions of dollars, according to the website. kp.ru . It is assumed that American companies will play a leading role in the creation of Saudi Arabia's nuclear infrastructure.

At the same time, the Reuters news agency clarified that the agreement between Washington and Riyadh has increased fears in Israel about the outbreak of an arms race in the Middle East. Former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that "Saudi Arabia's civilian nuclear program will end with the creation of nuclear weapons and lead to an insane arms race throughout the Middle East."