President Donald Trump found himself defending his Saudi nuclear agreement directly on Truth Social after “Fox and Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade expressed concerns over the arrangement during a live broadcast on Thursday, July 23, 2026. The host questioned whether the United States stands to gain from the deal, particularly given uncertainty about future Saudi leadership.
Kilmeade’s reservations stood out on a network that typically offers strong support for the administration. His critique focused less on Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman himself and more on whoever might eventually succeed him in Riyadh.
Doubts Over Enrichment and Succession
“I don’t see our benefit to letting them enrich,” Kilmeade said of uranium, labeling the practice a bad trend despite acknowledging genuine Saudi progress. His primary concern centered on succession. While he described the crown prince as trustworthy, noting “MBS seems to have emerged as somebody we can trust,” he warned that guarantees about future rulers simply don’t exist.
The “Fox and Friends” host characterized bin Salman as an open thinker whose rise was improbable and whose reforms surprised many. Yet that assessment drew attention given U.S. intelligence findings that bin Salman ordered journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s 2018 assassination at the Washington Post—a murder that severely damaged Saudi-American relations.
During the segment, co-host Kayleigh McEnany, who previously served as White House press secretary, raised the possibility that Saudi Arabia might join the Abraham Accords and normalize relations with Israel as part of such a framework.
Swift Presidential Clarification
Trump, known for closely monitoring the morning program, responded minutes later with a Truth Social statement outlining the deal’s parameters. He specified that the civilian nuclear agreement under negotiation with Riyadh by the U.S. Department of Energy would prohibit uranium enrichment and restrict usage strictly to peaceful purposes, similar to existing arrangements with Iran and the UAE.
The civilian nuclear program offer, according to the president, comes with a major prerequisite. Trump indicated that while he would greenlight the deal, authorization hinged entirely on Saudi Arabia’s entry into the accords, an initiative he praised as highly regarded and effective. He clarified that the U.S. supports civilian atomic programs provided they exclude uranium enrichment activities, before ending with his customary acknowledgment to those following the issue.
How quickly the statement appeared—within minutes of the broadcast ending—suggested the president had watched the segment live and felt compelled to immediately counter the criticism and address McEnany’s question.
A Diplomatic Deadlock
Trump’s precondition collides with an entrenched diplomatic impasse. Riyadh has consistently maintained it will establish diplomatic ties with Israel only if an independent Palestinian state is first established, a position the kingdom has publicly upheld for years.
The Netanyahu government, however, has declared repeatedly through multiple statements that it opposes Palestinian statehood. Those conflicting positions mean the nuclear arrangement is now entangled in a broader regional conflict with no clear path forward.
The practical challenge is plain: by tying approval to Saudi participation in the Abraham Accords, the president has made the deal dependent on normalization that both governments have established contradictory conditions for pursuing.
As of Thursday’s developments, Saudi Arabia had not responded to Trump’s post. That silence leaves uncertain whether Riyadh regards the framework as viable or views the requirements as incompatible with its own demands.
The exchange highlighted a rare public split between the president and a prominent voice on a network he monitors closely. Kilmeade acknowledged Saudi reform and did not challenge the kingdom’s overall trajectory, yet his unease over enrichment and future leadership revealed that even allies harbor reservations about an agreement that remains unsettled.
