Saudi Arabia and the United States are discussing a deal to cooperate on the kingdom's ambitions to develop a civil nuclear industry, talks that have long been complicated by regional politics and concerns over weapons proliferation.

The U.S. has agreed to sell Saudi Arabia an arms package worth nearly $142 billion, the White House announced Tuesday, as President Donald Trump kicked off his Middle East trip in Riyadh. Described by the Trump administration as "the largest defense cooperation agreement" in history,

A nuclear power industry in the kingdom could yield commercial and strategic gains, yet raise risk of weapons proliferation; Israel normalization now seems out of the picture