Trump: I would have no problem selling UAE F-35 warplanes
US President Donald Trump has said he would have "no problem" selling advanced F-35 stealth fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
"I personally would have no problem with it," he told on Fox News on Tuesday. "I would have no problem in selling them the F-35."
Trump said the sale would mean "tremendous jobs at home." The US president oversaw the signing of a deal normalizing relations between Israel and the UAE on Tuesday.
Israel has kept up the pressure on the United States not to provide the UAE with F-35 warplanes despite a recent normalization deal reached between Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi.
Two unnamed Israeli officials have said that Tel Aviv had pressured Washington to block the sale of the advanced fighter planes fearing that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his confidants may have made a secret agreement without consulting military officials.
Since the announcement of the normalization pact last month, several sources, who had been previously involved in contacts between the two sides, raised concerns that as part of the new understandings, Netanyahu may have abandoned Israel’s traditionally vehement opposition to the sale of sensitive military equipment and technology to the UAE, particularly F-35 fighter jets.
The Trump administration has signaled that the UAE could clinch unspecified new US arms sales after the normalization of ties between Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi.
Under pressure from Israel and the Israeli lobby in Washington, the US Congress had earlier blocked a plan for such a sale.
The US has sold the warplanes to a range of allies, including South Korea, Japan, and Israel, but experts say sales to the Persian Gulf Arab states require a deeper review due to US policy for Israel to maintain a qualitative military edge in the Middle East.
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