WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said Monday the United States would sell F-35 stealth fighters to Saudi Arabia, a day before Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visits the White House for talks.
“We will be doing that. We will be selling F-35s,” Trump told reporters when asked if Washington would agree to sell Riyadh the jets at Tuesday´s meeting. “They’ve been a great ally,” he added.
A sale would mark a significant policy shift, potentially altering the military balance in the Middle East and testing Washington’s definition of maintaining Israel’s “qualitative military edge.”
Saudi Arabia has requested the purchase of as many as 48 F-35 fighter jets, a potential multibillion-dollar deal that has cleared a key Pentagon hurdle ahead of bin Salman’s visit, Reuters reported early this month.
The Saudis have long been interested in Lockheed Martin’s fighter. A senior White House official told Reuters before Trump spoke that the president wanted to talk to the crown prince about the jets, “then we’ll make a determination.”
This is a developing story and is being updated with more details.
