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The United States will sell F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, President Donald Trump told reporters ahead of a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House.
“We’re going to do it. We’re going to sell F-35 jets,” Trump said. “They are a great ally.”
The two leaders are expected to discuss a defense and civilian nuclear power agreement during a visit to the White House on Tuesday, the first by a de facto Saudi leader since journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed and dismembered by Saudi agents seven years ago.
U.S. intelligence assessment explain Prince Mohammed approved the actions that led to the killings. Crown Prince rejected Any character in the murder case.
Prince Mohammed last visited during Trump’s first term in 2018, the same year Khashoggi was murdered in Istanbul.
While former President Joe Biden did not host the crown prince and pledged to make the country a “pariah” over its human rights record, Biden did visit saudi arabia Agreement on other issues will be reached in 2022. Biden said he raised the issue of Khashoggi’s murder at that meeting.
Trump and the crown prince met in Riyadh in May. There, U.S. agrees to sell nearly $142 billion Arms worth 107 billion pounds were delivered to Saudi Arabia as part of a $600 billion investment deal that the White House called the “largest defense sales deal in history.” Saudi Arabia is the largest buyer of U.S. weapons.
Some U.S. defense officials have expressed concern about the possible sale of the F-35, considered the world’s most advanced fighter jet, to Saudi Arabia. They told U.S. media they feared it would give Saudi Arabia access to sensitive stealth technology that the kingdom could then share with China under a security partnership between the two countries.
Israeli officials are also concerned, telling U.S. and local media that the deal risks damaging the country’s military standing. Israel is the United States’ closest ally in the Middle East and the only country in the region to possess F-35s.
The average cost of an F-35A jet is $82.5 million, according to major manufacturer Lockheed Martin.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Trump is also expected to push Saudi Arabia to sign the Abraham Accords he created and normalize relations with Israel. Saudi Arabia says this is conditional on the establishment of a Palestinian state, but the current Israeli government rejects this.
