For the first time in seven years, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the man linked to the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, will pay a visit to the United States on Tuesday. To mark the Crown Prince’s arrival, President Donald Trump has announced he will approve the sale of F-35 Fighter Jets to Saudi Arabia – effectively making the country the first in the Middle East to access these jets, with the exception of Israel.
Besides the F-35 deal, a White House official indicated a working relationship with Israel and a US-Saudi partnership are also on the table for discussion. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, that Saudi Arabia ‘ wants to buy .’ ‘They are a great ally. We will be doing that. We will be selling them F-35s,’ Trump said.
Trump has previously promoted large arms deals with the Gulf states as a ‘win-win’ situation. Traditionally, the United States has green-lit the sale of fighter jets to military friends, like countries that are a part of NATO . This move would effectively change the balance of defense and military power in the region.
In response, Israel has asked the president to ‘condition the sale,’ saying they are not opposed to it, but that it needs to be ‘subject to Saudi normalization of Israel.’ If the US-Saudi fighter jet agreement goes through, Israel may ask for security assurances. It reportedly will take minutes for an F-35 plan to fly from Saudi Arabia to Israel.
Analysts say the announcement might not actually results in the country receiving the fighter jets anytime in the near future. ‘The devil will kind of be in the details there,’ Andrew Leber, a nonresident fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who has done extensive research on Saudi Arabia, told NBC news.
He noted that a prior deal made with the United Arab Emirates also fell through, saying the same could happen this time around. Congress could review the potential deal and could stop it from going forward.
Saudi Arabia is a country where the Trump family has a significant financial stake, with multiple active projects including Trump Tower in both Riyadh and Jeddah . The Trump Organization also announced a new project on the heels of Salman’s arrival with their Saudi-linked development partners Dar Global, opening in the Maldives in 2028.
