The Scoop
Saudi Arabia is intensifying its lobbying to complete the purchase of F-35 fighter jets, including through a personal push by Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman, who met with senior Trump administration officials in Washington this week.
The kingdom sees a window of opportunity quickly closing: With the midterms fast approaching, Saudi officials want to build on momentum from last week’s nuclear agreement with the US and get an F-35 deal done, according to people familiar with the defense minister’s plans.
Both the sale of F-35s and wider security cooperation were on the agenda for his Washington visit, the people added.
President Donald Trump announced the potential sale of the F-35 jets on the eve of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Washington in November. During that trip, both leaders also announced almost $1 trillion in Saudi investment commitments into the US — though Trump did not tie their sale to a broader security agreement that the Saudis had hoped for.
The Saudi efforts to advance F-35 sales will likely face opposition in Congress from lawmakers who want to maintain Israel’s military edge in the region.
Trump made normalization with Israel a condition of the Saudi nuclear deal after the two countries signed the agreement, posting the next day that it was “totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords.”
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One of the people familiar with the defense minister’s plans said that he also met with Vice President JD Vance, adding that the F-35 issue came up but was not the central focus of a meeting more focused on defense cooperation amid the war in Iran and other issues.
A separate person familiar with the matter told Semafor that the F-35 issue was not raised in the meeting.
Vance’s office did not comment.
F-35 sales could emerge as another piece of leverage to try to compel Saudi Arabia to join the accords, a priority of the Trump administration.
The White House and Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment on the defense minister’s visit and the F-35 push.
Notable
- The Trump administration is also engaged in talks on a potential completion of a stalled F-35 sale to Türkiye, as Semafor reported.