U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that he is considering agreeing to a deal to supply Saudi Arabia with F-35 stealth fighter jets, which are made by Lockheed Martin.
A Pentagon intelligence report has raised concerns over the potential deal © Mena Today
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that he is considering agreeing to a deal to supply Saudi Arabia with F-35 stealth fighter jets, which are made by Lockheed Martin.
"They wanna buy a lot of jets," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
"I'm looking at that. They've asked me to look at it. They want to buy a lot of '35' - but they want to buy actually more than that, fighter jets."
The potential sale comes as Trump plans to host Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House next week, when they are expected to sign economic and defense agreements.
Asked about the talks, Trump told reporters it was "more than meeting, we're honoring" Saudi Arabia.
He repeated that he hoped Saudi would soon join the Abraham Accords, which have normalized relations between Israel and Muslim-majority nations. Riyadh has resisted such a step absent agreement on a roadmap to Palestinian statehood.
A Pentagon intelligence report has raised concerns over the potential F-35 deal, warning that China could acquire the aircraft's technology if the sale proceeds, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the assessment.
Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt
Saudi Arabia’s inflation rate remained steady at 2.2% in October 2025, unchanged from September, according to the latest report by the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT).
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has approved a major new initiative to streamline cross-border travel across the region.
Saudi Arabia’s national teams made a strong showing at the 6th Islamic Solidarity Games (Riyadh 2025), increasing their total medal count to 22 — including five gold, one silver, and 16 bronze medals.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.