The United States and Israel are aligned in their policy regarding Saudi Arabia’s plans for a civilian nuclear power program, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer said as he attempted to allay fears about Riyadh’s insistence on uranium enrichment during an interview with Bloomberg News.
“One of Saudi Arabia’s key asks here to normalizing relations [with Israel] is for the US to allow it to enrich its own uranium,” Bloomberg told Dermer.
“You have said before the devil is in the details, what details do you need to see,” Bloomberg asked him on Friday.
Dermer responded that “there are a lot of moving parts” to what will be a deal between Washington and Riyadh that will involve a normalization deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
“A civil nuclear program is one thing, a military nuclear program is the other, what are the safeguards to ensure that a civil nuclear program does not become a military nuclear program,” he said.
“How do you deal with proliferation issues? One country has something and others will want it. How do you deal with potential alternatives because there are other players here?
“The Saudis could turn to other countries here that could provide them with technologies,” Dermer said as he alluded to China.
“You have to decide what is the best alternative that keeps from an Israeli point of view, keep Israel safe. The good news here is that the US and Israel are actually completely aligned in their policy regarding the nuclear piece of this package,” he said.
Lapid attacks nuclear part of the deal
Opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Sunday continued to attack the nuclear portion of the deal, warning that it will spark a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.
In an interview with KAN News, Lapid said, “We can’t permit Saudi Arabia to have an enrichment program that allows it to become a nuclear threshold state.”
“The Turks and the Egyptians will want to enrich uranium,” he said, adding that the United Arab Emirates which is opening its fourth nuclear power plant will want to do the same.
“Everything that you introduce into the Middle East falls into the wrong hands,” Lapid warned.
Israel can normalize ties with Saudi Arabia without the uranium enrichment component, he said.
Such a plan “is a danger to Israel, the region and the world.”
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