American Lawmakers Press for Oversight of Any Saudi Nuclear Deal

TEHRAN (defapress)- A bipartisan group of US lawmakers introduced legislation on Thursday to ensure congressional oversight of any civilian nuclear cooperation agreement between Washington and Riyadh.

News ID: 75908

Date: 01 March 2019 - 17:17

The legislation was introduced on Thursday by Senators Edward Markey, a Democrat, and Republican Marco Rubio, World News reported.

Also, similar legislation was introduced in the House by Representative Brad Sherman, a Democrat, and Ted Yoho, a Republican.

Energy Secretary Rick Perry has had held talks with Saudi officials on a possible nuclear deal, however details of talks are not clear.

Riyadh has pushed for easing nonproliferation standards so it could be able to enrich uranium or reprocess plutonium made in reactors - two paths to making nuclear weapons.

The legislation bids came after a business group called IP3 International announced plans to build multi-billion-dollar nuclear reactors in the Middle East, including in the country of Saudi Arabia.

IP3, which is a consortium of US technology firms founded by retired Navy Rear Admiral Michael Hewitt, retired Army General John Keane, and Robert McFarlane, a former national security adviser to President Ronald Reagan, is linked to US President Donald Trump. its managers had a meeting with Trump earlier is month.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s dishonored Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MbS) laid the foundation stone for Saudi Arabia’s first nuclear research reactor.

MbS told US media last year that his kingdom aimed to develop nuclear weapons in order to counter Iran’s nuclear development program. The controversial move was made amid growing calls in the US for a halt to nuclear talks with the Riyadh regime, which has been rattled by a scandal over the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Reportedly, at MbS’ orders Khashoggi was killed and his body to be dismembered with a bone saw and dissolved in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Turkish city of Istanbul.

“A government that cannot be trusted with a bone saw, should not be trusted with a nuclear weapon,” Sherman stated, hinting that the bone saw was used for cutting up the body of the dissident journalist.

Iran's leaders have repeatedly stressed that the Iranian nation aims to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, and has no belligerent intentions.

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