According to US President Donald Trump, Saudi Arabia will be an “important non-NATO ally” for the United States. To date, 19 countries have this status, which provides close military cooperation with the United States.
According to US President Donald Trump, Saudi Arabia will be an “important non-NATO ally” for the United States. “I am pleased to announce tonight that we are taking our military cooperation to a higher level by officially classifying Saudi Arabia as a major non-NATO ally,” Trump said on Tuesday (local time) at a White House dinner with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. To date, 19 countries have this status, which provides close military cooperation with the United States.
Bin Salman arrived in Washington on Tuesday for his first visit in seven years, and Saudi Arabia’s powerful crown prince was received with extraordinary military honors by Trump.
Trump: Crown Prince knew nothing about Khashoggi murder
Trump relies on good relations with Saudi Arabia. On Tuesday he insisted that bin Salman was innocent in the murder of anti-government Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi some seven years ago: The crown prince knew nothing about the murder, the US President said. Trump denied the US secret service report. The murder of the journalist caused major tensions between the United States and Saudi Arabia.
Despite Israel’s concerns, Trump approved the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, the White House said on Tuesday. Israel is currently the only country in the Middle East that has US-made F-35 fighter jets. The sale of the fighter jets to Saudi Arabia could be an incentive for the Gulf country to normalize its relations with Israel. Due to the war in the Gaza Strip, this was previously thought to be impossible, but Trump wants to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
According to information from Washington, the United States and Saudi Arabia also signed a “joint declaration” regarding civil nuclear power. This became the legal basis for a decade-long “billion-dollar” partnership in nuclear power.
Saudi Arabia wants to use US technology for civilian nuclear power plants – but this is subject to strict rules. The US Congress is expected to carefully review the agreement. Saudi Arabia emphasizes that its country is not seeking nuclear weapons.
