U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that he plans to let Saudi Arabia purchase F-35 stealth jets, in what would be a significant sale of advanced American military hardware to the Middle East.
“They’ve been a great ally,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office one day before Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to the United States. “We will be selling F-35s.”
Why It Matters
The arms sale would make Saudi Arabia the first U.S. security partner in the Middle East other than Israel to acquire the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II—a potential shift in Washington’s policy of maintaining Israel’s qualitative military edge.
Trump previously greenlit the sale of F-35s to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after it had signed a normalization treaty with Israel in 2020, but the deal stalled under the Biden administration. Trump has also expressed interest in selling F-35s to NATO ally Turkey, despite its removal from the program in 2019 over its purchase of Russian S-400 air defense systems.
Although Saudi Arabia does not have formal diplomatic relations with Israel, Trump is pushing the Saudi leader, widely known by the acronym MBS, to join the Abraham Accords to normaize ties. The topic is expected to be discussed in their upcoming White House meeting.
What To Know
The Trump administration had been weighing Riyadh’s request for 48 F-35 jets for some weeks, Reuters reported last month, with the proposed sale passing a key Pentagon review.
The decision coincides with the Saudi crown prince’s first visit to the United States in seven years. MBS is an ally and “friend” of Trump, having hosted the U.S. leader in Riyadh in May as part of the first overseas trip of his second term. The pair signed a historic $142 billion arms deal and the kingdom pledged more than $1 trillion in U.S. investment.
Saudi Arabia has long been seen as the next major candidate to sign the Abraham Accords, but the kingdom has been reluctant to put pen to paper as long as a political solution in the Gaza Strip remains out of reach. The U.N. Security Council on Monday approved a Trump’s plan for Gaza, authorizing an international stabilization force for the war-ravaged territory and outlining a possible path toward an independent Palestinian state.
What People Are Saying
U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday: “I am planning on doing it. They wanna buy. They’ve been a great ally…. I will say that we will be doing that. We’ll be selling F-35s.”
Bradley Bowman, senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies told the Associated Press: “Let’s hope that President Trump makes clear that the first F-35 will not be delivered until Saudi Arabia normalizes relations with Israel…. Otherwise, the president will undercut his own leverage.
Saad Abdullah al-Hamed, a Saudi foreign policy analyst, told Newsweek on Friday: “Saudi Arabia sees extreme importance of acquiring such jets to strengthen its defense and balance power in the region, whether with regards to Iran, its backed Yemeni Houthis or even Israel.”
What Happens Next
The Saudi ruler arrives in the United States on Tuesday and discussions with Trump are expected to include more investment agreements and bilateral security.
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