U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he intends to approve the sale of American-made F-35 stealth fighter jets to Saudi Arabia. He made this statement a day before he was set to welcome Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the White House for a one-day visit. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said, “We will do it, we will sell the F-35s.”
If this deal goes through, it would mark a major shift in U.S. policy, affecting the military balance in the Middle East and testing Washington’s long-standing tradition of maintaining Israel’s qualitative military edge. Saudi Arabia has requested to purchase 48 F-35 jets—a potential multibillion-dollar deal that received approval earlier this month from a key Pentagon review.
Saudi Arabia has long been interested in Lockheed Martin’s advanced fighter jet. According to a senior U.S. official, President Trump wants to discuss the aircraft in detail with the Saudi Crown Prince before a final decision is made. Saudi Arabia, the largest buyer of American weapons, seeks these jets to modernize its air force and counter regional threats, particularly from Iran.
Pentagon policy experts had been working on this deal for several months. When selling weapons in the Middle East, the U.S. takes special care to ensure that Israel’s qualitative military edge is preserved, under which Israel receives more advanced American weapons than other countries in the region. The F-35 is considered the world’s most advanced stealth aircraft, and Israel has been using it for nearly a decade.
Although the Biden administration previously discussed providing F-35s to Saudi Arabia in exchange for restoring ties with Israel, those efforts did not progress. Meanwhile, some members of the U.S. Congress remain cautious about major defense deals with Saudi Arabia, particularly due to criticism that arose after the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.
