Matthew Bunn

speaker

30 appearances 1 recordings 1 series first heard Jul 2026 last heard 22 Jul

Matthew Bunn’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 1.

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Consider This from NPR · What we know about the nuclear deal between the US and Saudi Arabia · 22 Jul 2026 podcast

Well, they say that they would like to make nuclear energy to cover their domestic needs so they can export more of their oil and make more money.

But they also want to provide the foundation over time for having more options to move toward nuclear weapons should they feel the need.

Well, the United States, first of all, wants a strong relationship with the kingdom, given its vast oil reserves and role in the global oil market.

But secondly, the United States has nuclear companies that would like the business.

And

would like to see nuclear energy around the world expand to help cope with both energy poverty and climate change.

Well, unfortunately, the Trump administration dropped an insistence on what the United States has been insisting with many countries, that they accept the broader set of international inspections included in what's called the Additional Protocol.

Instead, the Trump administration has worked out a bilateral U.S.-Saudi set of inspection arrangements

that haven't yet been revealed to the public exactly what they are, but apply only to what the U.S.

would provide, not to the overall nuclear program in Saudi Arabia.

So when Secretary Rubio was a senator, he cosponsored legislation that would have required, before any nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia could go into force, that Saudi Arabia confess to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist,

and accept the far-reaching inspections called for under what's called the Additional Protocol and accept a ban on both uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing, the key technologies you can use to make nuclear weapons material.

And Saudi Arabia hasn't agreed to any of that in this deal.

Well, there is a global effort to stem the spread of nuclear weapons that has been strikingly successful.

There's only nine states that have nuclear arms today.

And US intelligence and US pressure and US military capabilities have been an important part of that global effort.

I think it's very likely that if Saudi Arabia moved in this direction, the United States would have a variety of tools to try to pressure them.

But still, agreeing to this kind of an agreement, especially if it does lead to selling Saudi Arabia the uranium enrichment technology that would allow them to make bomb material, does pose some increased risks.

Well, the reality is Iran already has a uranium enrichment program.

That's part of the focus of the ongoing war with Iran.

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