Washington, MINA – US President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he is considering approving the sale of advanced F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia. The statement came just hours before Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s scheduled visit to the White House on Tuesday.
“I will say that we will be doing that. We’ll be selling F-35s,” President Trump told reporters when questioned about the potential sale.
This follows the President’s comments from last Friday, where he noted Riyadh’s “strong interest” in purchasing the advanced aircraft manufactured by Lockheed Martin. “They wanna buy a lot of jets,” Trump stated. “They’ve asked me to look at it. They want to buy a lot of ’35s,’ but they want to buy actually more than that fighter jets.”
Several US media outlets have reported that the administration is leaning toward supporting the major defense deal.
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According to a Bloomberg report, which cited an administration official, President Trump and the Crown Prince are expected to reach an agreement facilitating the purchase of the F-35s during the visit. The deal would be part of broader economic and defense arrangements, including a liquefied natural gas agreement.[]
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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