Congressional Democrats have asked the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, to provide information about China’s alleged role in building a uranium processing facility in Saudi Arabia.

US officials have told journalists and nuclear experts they suspect a mill for producing yellowcake – refined uranium ore – is being built by Chinese technicians in the desert near Al-Ula in the north-west of the kingdom.

The alleged construction of a yellowcake facility was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, but experts have yet to confirm its existence through satellite imagery. If confirmed, it would strengthen suspicions that the Saudi monarchy is secretly expanding its capacity to make nuclear weapons, though it would take several more years to advance from yellowcake to producing the fissile material necessary for a warhead.

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