The political scientist estimated the chances of Saudi Arabia to buy the F-35 from the United States

Saudi Arabia's request to purchase 48 single-engine supersonic F-35 fighter-bombers as part of a "multibillion-dollar deal" with the United States is likely to be rejected. This was reported to Izvestia by Andrey Ontikov, an orientalist, publicist, and author of the Vostochny Vorota Telegram channel.

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"In 2020, the United States actually gave the green light for the sale of the same aircraft to the United Arab Emirates, but then Israel strongly opposed it. He formulated this position against the background of reconciliation with the UAE," the expert explained in a conversation with Izvestia.

According to Ontikov, despite the establishment of diplomatic contacts, the degree of distrust pushed the Israeli leadership to such steps.

"As far as I understand, the Israelis were then able to push through the US rejection of the deal with the UAE on the sale of the F-35, and now history repeats itself, only with Saudi Arabia. Let's see what Israel says," the orientalist concluded.

He added that the Israeli authorities are unlikely to be enthusiastic about such a prospect, which means that the deal remains a big question mark.

"The United States supplies a lot of weapons to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other Middle Eastern states. The main condition of Israel regarding all arms contracts between the United States and the countries of the region is that the buyers of weapons do not gain military superiority over Israel," Ontikov is sure.

Earlier, the Reuters news agency, citing two sources, reported that the Pentagon is currently considering the sale of 48 modern F-35 fighter jets to Riyadh. Saudi Arabia has appealed directly to US President Donald Trump with this request. Now there is talk of a possible deal ahead of Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman's visit to the White House on November 18.

Read more about the situation with the sale of the F-35 to Saudi Arabia in the Izvestia article:

Getting ahead of Israel: The Pentagon is considering transferring F-35 aircraft to Saudi Arabia

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