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A2 UP FRONT
Tuesday 27 February 2018
Under 'right conditions:’ US opens tough Saudi nuke
Trump sees talks with North Korea talks, in shadow of Iran deal

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE maintain its pressure on office said. The North's del-
Associated Press the country until it takes egation also agreed that By MATTHEW LEE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi- steps toward eliminating its "South-North relations and JOSH LEDERMAN
dent Donald Trump on nuclear weapons. U.S. offi- U.S.-North Korean rela- Associated Press
Monday responded to an cials differentiate talks from tions should be improved WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is open-
overture from North Korea negotiations. For those together," the statement ing talks with Saudi Arabia on a potentially lucrative
for talks with the U.S., say- to occur, they first want said. atomic energy agreement that's inextricably linked to
ing that will happen only Pyongyang to accept that White House press sec- an Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran. At stake: Billions
"under the right conditions." its nuclear program will be retary Sarah Huckabee of dollars in contracts for U.S. companies and bigger
Trump raised North Korea on the table. Sanders said Sunday that questions about America's ability to keep friend and foe
at an annual White House Speaking to the governors, the U.S., South Korea and alike from reaching nuclear weapons capability.
meeting with the nation's Trump praised Chinese the international communi- Energy Secretary Rick Perry will lead an interagency U.S.
delegation to talks with the Saudis in London on Friday,
two administration officials and three outside advisers
said. The meeting comes as the Arab powerhouse ex-
plores a civilian nuclear energy program, possibly with-
out restrictions on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
that would be required under a U.S. cooperation deal.
But there's a catch: The Saudis have indicated they
might accept such curbs if a separate nuclear deal
with its arch-foe Iran is tightened, according to the of-
ficials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because
they weren't authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
The separate negotiations, over Saudi and Iranian nu-
clear capabilities, put American officials in the middle
of the great balance-of-power of the modern Middle
East. The Saudis are loath to sign away their ability to
move closer to bomb-making capability while Iran is
bound by a 2015 nuclear accord that will become in-
creasingly lenient next decade.
When President Barack Obama blessed the nucle-
ar compromise with Tehran, his officials insisted they
weren't weakening nonproliferation standards for ev-
eryone else. But that difficult task has fallen to President
Donald Trump. And the Saudis, among his closest allies,
Ivanka Trump, left, U.S. President Donald Trump's daughter and Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of are now asking a simple question: If Iran can enrich, why
North Korea's ruling Workers' Party Central Committee, right, attend the closing ceremony of the can't we?
2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Sunday, Feb. 25, 2018. "Our objective is we want to have the same rights as
(AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
other countries," Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir
said this month at a security conference in Munich.

governors after a North President Xi Jinping for bol- ty "broadly agree" that de- At issue on Perry's trip is what's known as a "123 agree-
Korean envoy sent a mes- stering his country's sanc- nuclearization must be the ment." Without one, U.S. nuclear energy firms like West-
sage through South Korea tions against the North and outcome of any dialogue inghouse would lose out on business opportunities with
on Sunday. The envoy said warned that Russia is "be- with North Korea. She said the Saudis. American officials and outside advisers said
the North has "ample inten- having badly" on the issue North Korea has a bright the Saudis have dangled the prospect of such contracts
tions" of holding talks with of sanctions. path ahead of it if it choos- if new restrictions are imposed on Iran's nuclear activity.
the U.S. "Russia is sending in what es denuclearization. Trump shares many of the Saudi concerns over the Iran
The White House said in re- China is taking out," Trump "We will see if Pyongyang's deal, which he's called the worst ever and repeatedly
sponse that it would take said. message today, that it is threatened to walk away from. In January, he vowed
a wait-and-see approach. During Sunday's closing willing to hold talks, repre- he wouldn't issue more waivers of U.S. sanctions — an
Trump followed up Mon- ceremony for the Olym- sents the first steps along Iran deal requirement — unless it's amended to prevent
day. pics Games, the office of the path to denucleariza- Tehran from gradually resuming a variety of currently
"We want to talk only under South Korean President tion," she said in a written banned nuclear activities.
the right conditions," Trump Moon Jae-in announced statement. Such talks, primarily with Europe, are thus taking on add-
said. The administration's that a North Korean del- "In the meantime, the Unit- ed importance ahead of a mid-May deadline for more
position is that North Korea egate to the Olympics said ed States and the world Trump waivers.
must get rid of its nuclear his country is willing to hold must continue to make Trump has identified four specific problems that must be
and missile programs be- talks with the U.S. The move clear that North Korea's nu- addressed, including two not covered by the deal: Ex-
fore any talks can take comes after decades of clear and missile programs piration dates on some nuclear restrictions, inspection
place. The U.S. has ap- tensions between the two are a dead end." rules for Iranian military sites, ballistic missile work and
plied a series of sanctions, countries, which have no Trump once scolded Sec- Iranian activity in countries around the Middle East —
including a fresh round on formal diplomatic relations, retary of State Rex Tillerson, where it has helped Syria's government in a civil war
Friday, in what it says is a and a year of escalating who favors diplomacy with and aided Yemeni rebels in another.
"maximum pressure cam- rhetoric, including threats North Korea over military The overlapping issues have Iran deal opponents insist-
paign" to force North Korea of war, between Trump confrontation, for "wasting ing tougher rules on Iran is the easiest solution.
to disarm. and North Korean leader his time trying to negoti- “A fix puts the administration in a much better position
The Trump administration Kim Jong Un. ate with Little Rocket Man," with the Saudis,” said Mark Dubowitz of the Foundation
says it's open to talks with The North has "ample inten- which is Trump's derisive for the Defense of Democracies. “It’s a critical step in
North Korea, primarily to tions of holding talks with nickname for North Korea's demanding adherence to the ‘gold standard’ as op-
explain how America will the United States," Moon's leader.q posed to the Iran standard.”q