WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Monday he will sell F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia as he praised the kingdom for its strong partnership with the United States.
The announcement came on the eve of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s highly anticipated Washington visit, his first to the United States in more than seven years.
“I will say that that we will be doing that,” Trump said when asked if he would sell the jets to Saudi Arabia. “We’ll be selling F-35s.”
The crown prince had been expected to arrive with a wish list that includes receiving formal assurances from Trump defining the scope of the U.S. military protection for the kingdom and an agreement to buy U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets, one of the world’s most advanced aircraft.
“They have been a great ally,” Trump said of the Saudis.
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The Republican administration, however, has been wary about upsetting Israel’s “qualitative military advantage” over its neighbors, especially at a time when Trump is depending on Israeli support for the success of his Gaza peace plan.
Another long-standing concern, which also derailed a potential similar sale to the United Arab Emirates, is that the F-35 technology could be stolen by or somehow transferred to China, which has close ties to both the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
The announcement by Trump comes at a moment in which he’s trying to desperately persuade Saudi Arabia and Israel to normalize relations.
He has talked up his push to extend his first-term Abraham Accords — the project that formalized commercial and diplomatic ties between Israel and a trio of Arab nations — as key to his plan for bringing long-term stability to the Middle East as the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza continues to hold.
“I hope that Saudi Arabia will be going into the Abraham Accords very shortly,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday as he made his way to Florida for the weekend.
Yet Trump’s optimism that a U.S.-brokered deal could come soon is tempered by more sober internal assessments.
The Saudis have made clear that a guaranteed path to a Palestinian state remains a condition for the kingdom signing onto the accords — something Israel vehemently opposes.
Saudi Arabia is unlikely to sign on to the accords anytime soon, but there is cautious optimism that an agreement can be sealed by the end of Trump’s second term, according to three administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
The Trump administration formally notified Congress in November 2020 that it planned to sell 50 stealth F-35 fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates as part of a broader arms deal worth $23 billion aimed at deterring potential threats from Iran, despite concerns raised by Israel.
The UAE announcement came shortly after Trump lost the 2020 election to Democratic Joe Biden and followed the signing of the Abraham Accords between and the UAE.
But Biden, soon after taking off in January 2021, put a hold on that sale.
