Manila, July 23, 2026 (AFP) -US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday that a landmark nuclear cooperation pact with Saudi Arabia would result only in a peaceful, civilian atomic programme.
"Suffice it to say that any agreement that we're 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 can't be turned into a weapons programme," Rubio said on the sidelines of a Southeast Asian summit in Manila.
"Saudi Arabia seeks to have a peaceful, civil nuclear programme," he told reporters, noting a similar deal was in place with the United Arab Emirates