PNN – Saudi Arabia’s efforts to expand arms partners and negotiate with countries like Türkiye have raised concerns in the Trump administration.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, American officials said that Saudi Arabia’s efforts to diversify its arms partners have caused dissatisfaction in the Trump administration.
Current and former US officials told Middle East Eye that Saudi Arabia’s efforts to diversify its arms partners have angered the Trump administration, as Washington worries that deals with countries like Turkey could reduce the US share of the Saudi arms market.
American officials have called on Saudi Arabia to be transparent about its arms negotiations with other countries in the region.
According to a US official, after pressure from Washington, Saudi Arabia has assured the US that it will not buy Pakistan’s JF-17 fighter jets, for which Riyadh reportedly may offer billions of dollars in loans to Islamabad.
But American officials have not yet received similar assurances about the possibility of Saudi Arabia’s participation in Türkiye’s next-generation fighter jet program.
Bilal Saab, a former senior defense official in the Trump administration, told Middle East Eye: I don’t know what the status of the Turkish fighter is in Saudi Arabia. They have the best F-15s in the world, even better than the Americans. The Eurofighter Typhoon is good, and they are going to get the F-35s.
Another US official said the Trump administration does not see this as a replacement for the F-35, but rather as a loss of money that could have been spent on more American purchases.
Saudi Arabia has a history of gaining leverage by getting closer to US rivals. During the first Trump administration, Riyadh negotiated the Russian S-400 system and then bought the American THAAD system, a move that angered Washington at the time.