{"id":557,"date":"2026-07-31T14:14:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T14:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=557"},"modified":"2026-07-31T14:14:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T14:14:34","slug":"trumps-saudi-nuclear-deal-is-corrupt-and-dangerous-just-ask-marco-rubio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=557","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s Saudi nuclear deal is corrupt and dangerous. Just ask Marco Rubio."},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The authors are co-chairs of the bicameral Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control Working Group.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Jay Clayton still hasn\u2019t taken office as DNI, leaving Senate Democrats worried<\/a><\/p>\n

There was a time when Marco Rubio understood that handing Saudi Arabia the technology to produce nuclear weapons was a terrible idea.<\/p>\n

As a U.S. senator during President Donald Trump\u2019s first term \u2014 serving alongside two of us \u2014 Rubio declared that America should \u201csuspend all talks\u201d with Saudi Arabia on a nuclear agreement until the kingdom accepted what nuclear nonproliferation experts consider \u201cgold standard\u201d provisions: a commitment to forgo producing weapons-grade uranium or plutonium, backed by the toughest international inspections.<\/p>\n

He was right. In fact, in 2019 then-Sen. Rubio and Sen. Ed Markey introduced bipartisan legislation requiring those protections. In the years since, Markey and Sen. Jeff Merkley reintroduced that legislation in the Senate, and all four of us have worked to advance those principles.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Rubio became secretary of state \u2014 and he apparently abandoned those principles, helping Trump pursue one of the most reckless nuclear deals in U.S. history.<\/p>\n

This deal is the starting gun for a Middle East nuclear arms race. Congress must reject it.<\/p>\n

The deal reportedly allows Saudi Arabia to produce weapons-grade uranium and plutonium \u2014 the essential ingredients for nuclear weapons. Yet it does not require the agreement to include the International Atomic Energy Agency\u2019s Additional Protocol, the strongest international inspection standard.<\/p>\n

If the president were serious about preventing Saudi Arabia from acquiring nuclear weapons, he would insist on the gold standard. If Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman truly had no interest in a bomb, he would gladly accept it.<\/p>\n

Neither is happening.<\/p>\n

Instead, Trump is giving Saudi Arabia what it wants while demanding almost nothing in return. Although the president has now conditioned the deal on Saudi Arabia normalizing relations with Israel, that new linkage reportedly appears nowhere in the text of the agreement. And it does nothing to address the agreement\u2019s glaring omission of gold standard restrictions.<\/p>\n

We know exactly why Salman wants these capabilities, and it\u2019s not so that the oil-rich kingdom can develop civilian nuclear power. He said it aloud in 2018: \u201cIf Iran developed a nuclear bomb, we will follow suit as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Ted Cruz\u2019s college sports bill risks humiliating collapse in crunch time<\/a><\/p>\n

So why won\u2019t Trump and Rubio, at a minimum, demand the strongest safeguards?<\/p>\n

Maybe we should ask Jared Kushner, who accepted a $2 billion investment from a Saudi sovereign wealth fund after leaving the White House at the end of the first Trump administration. Maybe we should ask Westinghouse Electric, which stands to make tens of billions of dollars if this agreement moves forward. As The New York Times reported this week, Westinghouse\u2019s majority owner \u201cis a frequent business partner with Newmark, the real-estate firm\u00a0run\u00a0and\u00a0owned\u00a0in part by the sons of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no evidence at this point that Mr. Trump\u2019s friends or family helped orchestrate the Saudi nuclear deal,\u201d the Times noted. But the pattern is painfully familiar: Another Trump initiative hurts America\u2019s national security while benefiting the financial interests of his family and political allies.<\/p>\n

That is corruption dressed up as diplomacy.<\/p>\n

The consequences of this nonproliferation failure will not stop with Saudi Arabia. If Riyadh gains the capability to produce bomb fuel, why would, say, Egypt stand aside? Why would Turkey, or any other country in the region? The result will be an intensifying nuclear competition in a region currently on the verge of a wider war.<\/p>\n

Trump launched that unwinnable war against Iran claiming it was necessary to stop Tehran from enriching uranium. Yet his administration is now preparing to give Saudi Arabia access to the very technologies it says Iran must never possess. That contradiction doesn\u2019t make America stronger. It makes American policy impossible to take seriously and undermines any chance of reaching a durable agreement with Iran. If Saudi Arabia can enrich uranium without the strongest inspections, Tehran will demand the same treatment. Trump is weakening his own negotiating position while increasing the odds of regional nuclear proliferation.<\/p>\n

None of this was inevitable. The 2015 Iran nuclear agreement placed meaningful, verifiable limits on Iran\u2019s nuclear program. International inspectors confirmed that it was working. Trump abandoned it anyway \u2014 not because it had failed, but because it was President Barack Obama\u2019s achievement. The predictable result was an unconstrained Iranian nuclear program and a far more dangerous Middle East.<\/p>\n

Now the president risks making an already dangerous situation catastrophic. He is creating the conditions for more nuclear weapons, more instability and more danger.<\/p>\n

For decades, leaders of both parties understood that the fewer countries with the ability to build nuclear weapons, the safer the United States and the world would be. Trump is abandoning that principle.<\/p>\n

History has shown us that nuclear arms races do not make nations safer. They make accidents more likely, miscalculation more deadly and wars more catastrophic. Trump claims to oppose nuclear proliferation. The Saudi nuclear deal tells a very different story. Neither America nor the world can afford his recklessness. Congress must stop this dangerous agreement before it triggers a new nuclear arms race in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Read more Nicolle Wallace remembers \u2018patriot\u2019 youth baseball coach who stood up to ICE<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before becoming secretary of state, Rubio understood that handing Saudi Arabia the technology to produce nuclear weapons was a terrible idea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump\u2019s Saudi nuclear deal is corrupt and dangerous. Just ask Marco Rubio. - Long Distance Movers USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=557\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump\u2019s Saudi nuclear deal is corrupt and dangerous. Just ask Marco Rubio. - Long Distance Movers USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Before becoming secretary of state, Rubio understood that handing Saudi Arabia the technology to produce nuclear weapons was a terrible idea.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=557\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Long Distance Movers USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-31T14:14:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=557#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=557\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43\"},\"headline\":\"Trump\u2019s Saudi nuclear deal is corrupt and dangerous. Just ask Marco Rubio.\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-31T14:14:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=557\"},\"wordCount\":905,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=557#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/88c53eda63a1b797a2610db526153c8b.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"US\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=557#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=557\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=557\",\"name\":\"Trump\u2019s Saudi nuclear deal is corrupt and dangerous. Just ask Marco Rubio. - Long Distance Movers USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=557#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=557#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/88c53eda63a1b797a2610db526153c8b.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-31T14:14:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=557#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=557\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=557#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/88c53eda63a1b797a2610db526153c8b.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/88c53eda63a1b797a2610db526153c8b.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=557#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Trump\u2019s Saudi nuclear deal is corrupt and dangerous. Just ask Marco Rubio.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Long Distance Movers USA\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Trump\u2019s Saudi nuclear deal is corrupt and dangerous. Just ask Marco Rubio. - Long Distance Movers USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=557","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Trump\u2019s Saudi nuclear deal is corrupt and dangerous. Just ask Marco Rubio. - Long Distance Movers USA","og_description":"Before becoming secretary of state, Rubio understood that handing Saudi Arabia the technology to produce nuclear weapons was a terrible idea.","og_url":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=557","og_site_name":"Long Distance Movers USA","article_published_time":"2026-07-31T14:14:34+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=557#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=557"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43"},"headline":"Trump\u2019s Saudi nuclear deal is corrupt and dangerous. Just ask Marco Rubio.","datePublished":"2026-07-31T14:14:34+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=557"},"wordCount":905,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=557#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/88c53eda63a1b797a2610db526153c8b.webp","articleSection":["US"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=557#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=557","url":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=557","name":"Trump\u2019s Saudi nuclear deal is corrupt and dangerous. Just ask Marco Rubio. - Long Distance Movers USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=557#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=557#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/88c53eda63a1b797a2610db526153c8b.webp","datePublished":"2026-07-31T14:14:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=557#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=557"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=557#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/88c53eda63a1b797a2610db526153c8b.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/88c53eda63a1b797a2610db526153c8b.webp","width":1200,"height":630},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=557#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Trump\u2019s Saudi nuclear deal is corrupt and dangerous. Just ask Marco Rubio."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/","name":"Long Distance Movers USA","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com"],"url":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}