Rubio says Saudi nuclear deal will go through Congress approval

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday that a nuclear cooperation deal with Saudi Arabia will go through Congressional approval, adding that the deal will have safeguards in place.

“Any agreement that we are going to make with any country in the world on civil nuclear energy is going to be one that will have safeguards in place to ensure that it cannot be turned into a weapons program,” Rubio told reporters in the Philippines.

“When countries decide they want to pursue a peaceful nuclear program, we prefer them to do it with us. Saudi Arabia has been an important strategic partner for us. It would make sense for us to enter such an agreement,” he added.

Rubio said that “any deal we enter into with any country will have to go through a Congressional review process, and so we will ensure that in order to get congressional approval, we're going to need to have those safeguards in place.”

The US and Saudi Arabia have signed a nuclear cooperation agreement, the US Energy Department said Wednesday.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman signed the peaceful nuclear cooperation agreement, commonly known as a 123 Agreement, along with a bilateral safeguards agreement, the agency said in a statement.