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US approves sale of nuclear power technology to Saudi Arabia

SHAFAQNAReuters news agency says Washington has approved six authorizations that allow American companies to sell nuclear technology and assistance to Saudi Arabia.

According to Reuters, the Trump administration has quietly pursued a wider deal on sharing U.S. nuclear power technology with Saudi Arabia, which aims to build at least two nuclear power plants. Several countries including the United States, South Korea and Russia are in competition for that deal, and the winners are expected to be announced later this year by Saudi Arabia.

Perry’s approvals, known as Part 810 authorizations, allow companies to do preliminary work on nuclear power ahead of any deal but not ship equipment that would go into a plant, a source with knowledge of the agreements said on condition of anonymity. The approvals were first reported by the Daily Beast.

The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said in the document that the companies had requested that the Trump administration keep the approvals secret.

“In this case, each of the companies which received a specific authorization for (Saudi Arabia) have provided us written request that their authorization be withheld from public release,” the NNSA said in the document. In the past, the Energy Department made previous Part 810 authorizations available for the public to read at its headquarters.

A Department of Energy official said the requests contained proprietary information and that the authorizations went through multi-agency approval process.

In a congressional hearing on Wednesday, Representative Brad Sherman urged Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to release the names of the companies that received the authorizations, accusing the Trump administration of attempting to evade Congress on sharing nuclear power with Riyadh.

“One thing that is in our interest is to prevent Saudi Arabia from getting a nuclear weapon,” he said. “What I’ve seen in this administration recently… is an effort to evade Congress and to some extent evade your department and provide substantial nuclear technology and aid to Saudi Arabia while [Riyadh] refuses to abide by any of the controls we would like to see regarding reprocessing, enrichment.”

Many US Congress members are concerned about the provision of nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia, a destabilizing force under the Salman clan.

Last month, a report by a congressional committee revealed that the Trump administration was trying to bypass Congress to transfer sensitive nuclear power technology to Saudi Arabia.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at the time decried the US “hypocrisy” over the planned nuclear sale to the Saudi regime.

Last March, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said that the kingdom would be quick to develop nuclear weapons if Iran — which Riyadh views as its arch rival in the region — did so.

Iran does not pursue nuclear weapons, and under a 2015 international deal, it has placed its entire nuclear program under enhanced 24/7 monitoring by the United Nations (UN)’s atomic watchdog. That organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has repeatedly confirmed the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program.

With the secret nuclear support of the Trump administration — which is strongly opposed to Iran — reported by Reuters, it is unlikely that Saudi Arabia will allow any meaningful international monitoring of its nuclear work once it is in possession of the technology, augmenting concerns about nuclear weapons proliferation. The Israeli regime, another adversary of Iran, also has a nuclear weapons program not subject to any international monitoring at all mainly due to support from Washington. Under King Salman and his son, Mohammed, Saudi Arabia has been recently cozying up to the Tel Aviv regime, Press TV reported.

 

Read more from Shafaqna:

Trump officials tried to rush nuclear technology to Saudis, House Panel finds

Congress resolution force Trump to end US support of Saudi-led coalition for Yemen war

US Senate defies Trump, rebuking Saudi Arabia after Khashoggi killing

 

 

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