Saudi Uranium Enrichment Deal, Trump Defends Iran War, GOP Congress Out Of Sync

July 23, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

A Nuclear Deal for Saudi Arabia, a War Without an End, and a GOP Congress at Odds With Itself

President Trump went to war with Iran to stop it from enriching uranium. Now he has signed a deal that could let Saudi Arabia do just that. That tension sits at the center of Thursday's Up First episode, which also tracks the president's sliding support among his own base as the Iran war drags on, and the strange dynamic of a Republican-controlled Congress that can't seem to get on the same page.

The Saudi Nuclear Agreement and Its Fallout

The United States has agreed to build and run nuclear energy plants in Saudi Arabia. Under the terms, American companies would operate commercial nuclear power stations on Saudi soil for decades. Saudi Arabia is not permitted to reprocess American nuclear material for weapons. But there is nothing in the agreement—or in the security protocol attached to it—that stops the kingdom from using these plants to enrich uranium or other nuclear fuel provided by other countries. That is a meaningful omission. When the U.S. made a similar energy deal with the United Arab Emirates in 2009, Washington required the UAE to promise not to do exactly that.

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What you'll learn

1 (00:02) **Saudi Uranium Enrichment Deal** - The U.S. agreed to build and run nuclear plants in Saudi Arabia, but the deal does not prohibit the kingdom from enriching uranium using fuel from other countries.
2 (04:03) **Israel's Alarmed Reaction to the Nuclear Deal** - Israeli officials, including former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman and former PM Ehud Barak, criticize the agreement as a sign of deteriorating trust between Netanyahu and Trump.
3 (05:04) **Iran War Update: US Strikes and Trump's Threats** - U.S. Central Command continues strikes on Iranian military sites, while Trump warns of hitting deeply buried uranium enrichment centrifuges.
4 (05:33) **Trump Defends Iran War as Support Drops** - Trump ramps up aggression, threatens to bomb bridges and power plants near Tehran, and rejects a new deal with Iran, but new polling shows his MAGA base is losing patience.
5 (07:05) **Trump's Economic Argument for the War** - Trump tries to sell the Iran war as economically beneficial, comparing it to U.S. operations in Venezuela, while also asking voters for patience on rising costs.
6 (08:34) **GOP Congress Out of Sync: House Passes Bills Before Break** - The House passed a $1.1 trillion Pentagon budget, a government funding extension, stock trading rules, and a budget framework, but the Senate is unlikely to take them up as written.
7 (10:02) **Senate Will Rewrite House Bills** - Senate Majority Leader John Thune faces a different political reality than Speaker Mike Johnson, needing 60 votes to overcome the filibuster and deal with more independent senators.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

Saudi Arabia is getting American nuclear reactors and a path to enrich its own uranium, the same technology the U.S. has spent months bombing Iran to stop, which has Israel warning about a nuclear arms race.
President Trump is asking Americans to be patient about what the war is costing them, promising Iran will pay for itself the way he claims Venezuela has, but his own supporters are getting harder to convince as gas prices climb again.
And the House heads home for a month today after cramming in four big bills on the way out, none of which the Senate is likely to take up as written, even though Republicans run both chambers.

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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Tina Kraja, Rebekah Metzler, Jason Breslow, Mohamad ElBardicy and Adriana Gallardo.

It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Nia Dumas.

Our director is Christopher Thomas.

We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. Our technical director is Stacey Abbott.

And our deputy Executive Producer is Kelley Dickens.

(0:00) Introduction
(01:55) Saudi Uranium Enrichment Deal
(05:26) Trump Defends Iran War
(09:03) GOP Congress Out Of Sync

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