Thus, while his cabinet members were celebrating the signing of the agreement, an angry post by the US president on Truth Social—just minutes after the criticism aired on Fox News—caused absolute confusion in Washington, humiliated Riyadh, and brought to light an unprecedented mess between the Department of Energy and the White House.
The timeline
On Wednesday afternoon (7/22/2026), officials gathered at the headquarters of the US Department of Energy for an event that had been in the works for more than two decades: the signing of a civilian nuclear energy agreement between the United States and Saudi Arabia. Two rows of American and Saudi flags were set up on stage at the table where Energy Secretary Chris Wright was seated. A large screen displayed his Saudi counterpart joining from Riyadh. After months of delays, the nuclear agreement was finally signed. The Saudis had secured much of their wish list for the deal. However, as quickly as it was announced, it seemed to fall apart just as fast... On Thursday night (7/23/2026), Trump stated in a social media post that the deal was subject to a new condition: Saudi Arabia would have to join the Abraham Accords, an initiative dating back to the first Trump administration that led several Arab nations to normalize diplomatic relations with Israel. Trump also denied that the deal would allow uranium enrichment.
Trump's fury
As CNN reveals, the US president was already furious over how the agreement was presented, as Wright had not briefed him prior to the announcement.
Trump's displeasure subsequently worsened—according to the same information—following a storm of criticism from experts and conservative media outlets. These included critical commentary from his favorite channel, Fox News, as well as an editorial in The Wall Street Journal, both questioning why the deal was struck without a normalization agreement—something both outlets emphasized that former President Joe Biden had been pursuing. The new condition, which the White House insisted had long been a goal of Trump and should not shock anyone, caught the administration's own nuclear negotiators off guard, for whom the requirement of joining the Abraham Accords was completely unexpected, as CNN reveals.
Total chaos
According to the same sources, as confusion reigned, White House officials pointed fingers at their colleagues in the Department of Energy, stating that the White House had instructed the Department of Energy not to proceed with presenting the deal on Wednesday. However, Wright—whom White House officials have complained about in the past for acting hastily and exceeding his authority—went ahead as planned, even giving an interview on Fox Business. The agreement, in the minds of some Trump advisors, was not finalized because the required notification letters had not been sent to US Congress. Both the US president and several of his top aides were furious over the decision to announce the deal, according to the same sources.
"President Trump's energy team is fully aligned, and always has been: the civil nuclear energy agreement being negotiated between the United States and Saudi Arabia is contingent upon Saudi Arabia joining the successful Abraham Accords, which will help bring real peace to the Middle East," White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement. The Department of Energy emphasized its close coordination with the White House. "This is fake news. The Department of Energy has closely coordinated the negotiations and subsequent announcement of these agreements with the White House and the State Department. Any suggestion to the contrary is false," said spokesperson Ben Dietderich, adding that the agreement and the Abraham Accords "achieve a shared goal—achieving lasting peace through commerce, not conflict."
Friction at the White House grew when Thursday's press briefing was dominated by questions about the deal. Karoline Leavitt noted that Trump was the "ultimate negotiator" when asked why the new condition was not part of the initial agreement announcement with Saudi Arabia.
Saudis caught off guard
Trump's post on Truth Social also caught the Saudis completely by surprise, for whom the nuclear deal—which did not include a normalization requirement—represented a major victory. The deal would have allowed uranium enrichment on Saudi soil once certain conditions were met, while limiting the ability of a UN monitoring agency to inspect suspect secret nuclear facilities.
A deal met with largely negative reviews
This move was a last-minute plot twist in a diplomatic effort spanning years. Nearly two decades after the US and Saudi Arabia first announced their intention to cooperate on nuclear energy, the two countries reached a preliminary agreement in October 2025, when Wright and his Saudi counterpart issued a joint statement. The Trump administration submitted a waiver report to Congress shortly thereafter because the agreement did not require the Saudis to sign a formal agreement known as the Additional Protocol with the International Atomic Energy Agency. However, after the initial waiver request to Congress, the agreement sat shelved for months without Trump's approval to move forward, as previously reported by CNN. Sources attributed the delay to concerns over the war with Iran and fears that Congress might reject the deals.
Department of Energy officials believed they had received Trump's blessing late last week, according to sources, and the department launched its long-planned communications push. Another source noted that while Trump may have given his blessing to a "preliminary" deal, that did not constitute a green light to finalize or disclose the agreement. Initial expert reactions to the reported parameters of the deal were mostly negative. Nuclear nonproliferation experts were alarmed by the deal's enrichment provision, as well as the lack of commitment to the enhanced safeguards of the Additional Protocol.
Supporters focused on the commercial benefits and strategic importance of the deal: the Saudis want a nuclear program on their own terms, and the US should partner with Riyadh to gain leverage over Saudi safety and nonproliferation practices—preventing China or Russia from stepping in. The criticism initially did not deter the administration, which argued that the deal and its bilateral safeguards "adhere to the highest standards of nuclear safety and nonproliferation." The Department of Energy proceeded with the official signing ceremony on Wednesday.
Netanyahu's role
After things shifted the following morning, many circles close to the administration immediately suspected delayed intervention from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose suspicions regarding a Saudi nuclear program are well known. (Israel, which possesses nuclear weapons, opposes any arrangement that could allow an Arab nation to acquire a nuclear bomb).
Two Israeli sources told CNN that Netanyahu hoped to influence the deal, with one adding that the prime minister intended to press Trump to include normalized relations with Riyadh—or at least progress toward it—as part of the agreement. However, the White House later stated that Trump and Netanyahu had not spoken ("Not to my knowledge," Leavitt told reporters) and that Trump was simply reiterating a long-standing position regarding the normalization of Riyadh's diplomatic relations with Israel. Coverage in conservative media proved decisive in the president's decision to block the deal in its current form, according to people familiar with the matter. "The roots of this deal lie in the Biden administration, which held out nuclear cooperation as a reward if the Saudis joined the Abraham Accords," wrote the editorial board of the Journal, which often views Trump with skepticism. "Riyadh has resisted pressure to do so, but its reward is arriving now from the Trump administration regardless. One has to hope the Saudis have offered something more."
Criticism from Fox News
Fox News, early in its programming, expressed skepticism along the same lines. Host Brian Kilmeade called the deal "a bit of a surprise" and noted that such an arrangement had been considered during the Biden administration. "During the Biden years, they said we'll consider it. But before we do that, we need you to sign the Abraham Accords," Kilmeade stated, visibly puzzled, as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had gotten along much better with Trump than with his predecessor.
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