A US official has warned that Saudi Arabia’s efforts to establish an independent uranium enrichment capacity could be considered a violation of the nuclear cooperation agreement between the two countries, known as “Agreement 123,” and could lead to the end of nuclear cooperation between Washington and Riyadh.
Matthew Napoli, deputy director of the Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Division at the US National Nuclear Security Administration, raised this issue in his speech at the Carnegie Endowment for the Arts.
Napoli has emphasized that compliance with strict non-proliferation standards is a fundamental condition for continuing nuclear cooperation with Saudi Arabia, and that the creation of an independent enrichment capacity by Riyadh could endanger this cooperation.
