With growing fear the ceasefire could unravel, the Paris meeting aimed to create more robust conditions to identify, support, and verify the disarmament process and dissuade Israel from escalation. The situation is extremely precarious, full of contradictions, and it won’t take much to light the powder keg (Read more at Dawn).
Tensions between Saudi Arabia and the UAE are escalating anew in Yemen. Al-Monitor senior editor Joyce Karam says the clash is real, leaving the Trump administration torn between its top regional allies (Listen here).
The possible Saudi Arabian Foreign Military Sales (FMS) cases are each valued at $500 million. “The proposed sale will enhance Saudi Arabia’s capability to meet current and future threats by providing initial through advanced aviation operator and maintainer training for the safe and professional operation of the [Royal Saudi Land Forces Aviation Corps] US-procured helicopter fleet,” says the DSCA. Separately, the DSCA has announced a possible $445 million sustainment sale for Bahrain’s F-16s. It covers a broad range of components, spares, and other support (Read more at Global Flight).
The makers of the popular satirical cartoon show South Park turned their sights on Saudi Arabia in their latest episode, attacking American media personalities, politicians and sporting events for taking money from the state. Struggling to find funds due to the economic crisis in the US, one character suggests there is someone "who'd be willing to give South Park a bunch of money", adding "they're giving money to everyone else" (Read more at Middle East Eye).
United States President Donald Trump “looks at Saudi Arabia like a piggy bank or an ATM machine” and that’s why the recent Saudi-US summit focused on deals instead of strategic regional issues, such as Sudan, Palestine, Iran and Syria, argues political scientist Gregory Gause, professor emeritus of international affairs at Texas A&M University. Gause tells host Steve Clemons that if Riyadh can seal a deal to house a joint AI data centre, “that's the best guarantee of US security.” He adds that China may be Saudi Arabia’s biggest customer but the US is Riyadh’s “preferred partner on security, AI, economics and defence cooperation”. (Listen here)
Representative Vindman urges the White House to release the transcript of Trump's 2019 call with Prince Mohammed after Khashoggi's murder. Vindman claims the classified call was "shocking" and involved a quid pro quo, sparking controversy and demands from Democrats (Read more at Straits Times).
Under the new status, Saudi Arabia will gain access to American defense technologies, priority delivery of military equipment, and the ability to host US war reserves. The kingdom also becomes eligible to bid on Pentagon contracts for maintenance and repair of US systems abroad (Read more at Defense Post).
“Regarding the F-35, I had a long conversation with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who reiterated his commitment that the United States will continue to preserve Israel’s qualitative military edge in everything related to supplying weapons and military systems to countries in the Middle East,” Netanyahu said in a Hebrew-language interview widely circulated on X (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Both companies are receiving approvals to purchase the equivalent of up to 35,000 Nvidia Blackwell chips (GB300s), said the department in a statement. “These approvals will promote continued American AI dominance and global technological leadership – consistent with President Trump’s July 2025 AI Action Plan. The approvals also follow landmark U.S.-Saudi and U.S.-UAE AI partnership agreements,” the statement added (Read more at Middle East Economy).
Nearly all recent US administrations have worked with leaders with poor human rights records in order to advance US interests. But more than any recent occupant of the White House, Trump has not only praised prominent autocratic rulers, from Saudi Arabia and Hungary to China and El Salvador, but has shown little interest in reining them in, instead taking a more transactional approach (Read more at Business Standard).
In this episode of Middle East Focus, hosts Alistair Taylor and Matthew Czekaj sit down with MEI Visiting Scholar F. Gregory Gause, III, to analyze the policy implications of Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud's (MBS) first visit to the US in seven years. What do US and Saudi officials hope to achieve from MBS's historic trip? Gause breaks down how the kingdom has changed under MBS's leadership and the prospects for a bilateral defense agreement between the US and Saudi Arabia. Gause also examines the evolving US-Saudi relationship and how the turbulent regional landscape is affecting Riyadh's foreign policy calculations (Listen here).
Oil giant Saud Aramco said on Wednesday it had signed 17 preliminary deals with US companies with a potential overall value of more than $30 billion, during a visit to Washington by the Saudi Crown Prince. The projects span liquefied natural gas, financial services, advanced materials manufacturing and procurement of materials and services, it said in a statement (Read more at New Arab).
The joint venture plans to deploy up to 1 GW of AI infrastructure by 2030, with the shared ambition to expand capacity to multiple gigawatts, as a key pillar of HUMAIN’s overall ambitions. This joint venture is expected to begin operations in 2026, with a phase 1 deployment of 100 MW planned, powered by HUMAIN modern data center capacity, AMD Instinct™ MI450 Series GPUs and Cisco critical infrastructure solutions (Read more at CISCO).
"It is about civilian, civil use of nuclear power. It's not about enrichment. It's not about anything related to weapons. It's just about generating electricity, secure, reliable, affordable electricity," U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said (Read more at Yahoo).
Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) and the Pentagon will create a joint venture to process rare earth materials from Saudi Arabia and other parts of the world to supply the US and Saudi manufacturing and defense sectors (Read more at Al-Arabiya).
A handful of Republican members of Congress, including House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast attended a black-tie dinner at the White House for bin Salman on Tuesday, according to a White House official (Read more at Dawn).
This conversation will explore the emerging forces shaping the next wave of technological progress, highlighting the architectures, models, and investments powering a more intelligent and interconnected future. The discussion will be moderated by Abdullah Alswaha, Saudi Arabia's minister of communications and information technology. Both Musk and Huang attended a dinner Trump held for the crown prince (Read more at Yahoo Finance).
Since his 2023 signing for the Riyadh-based club – majority owned by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund that the crown prince chairs – Ronaldo has been the face of the Saudi league and has featured in promotional videos for the Saudi Tourism Authority (Read more at Aljazeera).
The crown prince's lavish White House reception marked his full rehabilitation and secured major economic, defence and technology deals that could shift the US-Saudi balance. More broadly, Arabs interested in democracy, freedom and human rights will be discouraged by the crown prince's increased power and influence. After the Arab Spring, the Saudi government helped guide counterrevolutions in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Libya, and elsewhere (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The F-35 is just one item on Saudi Arabia's shopping list. Deliveries of the F-35 could still take years, so the kingdom is looking at more futuristic weapons systems, like Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drones. The agreement will put Saudi Arabia far ahead of other Gulf states and US partners in terms of wait times and negotiations for sophisticated US weapons (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Saudi Arabia has agreed to allow US citizen Saad Almadi to return home to Florida, five months ahead of the scheduled lifting of travel restrictions and a day after Saudi crown prince and prime minister Mohammed bin Salman met Donald Trump at the White House. Almadi, 75, was sentenced to 19 years of incarceration in the kingdom in 2021 after he wrote 14 tweets critical of the Riyadh government. Two years later, the charges were reduced to so-called “cyber crimes” and he was sentenced to a 30-year ban on leaving Saudi Arabia (Read more at Guardian).
Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said any deal with Saudi Arabia must include enhanced inspections through an agreement known as the Additional Protocol, which boosts the ability of the International Atomic Energy Agency to verify peaceful use of all nuclear material. It is critical that the U.S. hold Saudi Arabia to the "gold standard" in what is known as a 123 Agreement to ensure Riyadh will not enrich uranium or reprocess plutonium, as the United Arab Emirates agreed in 2009 when it signed a civil nuclear pact with Washington, she said. "We must not fuel a nuclear arms race in the Middle East." (Read more at Yahoo News)
"His majesty would like me to do something very powerful having to do with Sudan," Trump said at a Saudi-US business forum on Wednesday. "It was not on my charts to be involved in, I thought it was just something that was crazy and out of control," he added. "But I just see how important that is to you, and to a lot of your friends in the room, Sudan. And we're going to start working on Sudan." (Read more at TRT World)
The controversy over the killing of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and U.S.-based critic of the Saudi leadership, flared again in the Oval Office in front of cameras as the kingdom's de facto ruler made his first White House visit in more than seven years seeking to further rehabilitate his global image tarnished by the incident. U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that bin Salman approved the capture or killing of Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The crown prince denied ordering the operation but acknowledged responsibility as the kingdom's de facto ruler. "A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about, whether you like him or didn't like him," Trump said. "Things happened, but he knew nothing about it, and we can leave it at that." (Read more at Japan Times)
Tommy and Ben discuss Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Washington, his request for F-35 fighter jets and a NATO-like security guarantee, the real estate deals the Trump family might get in return, and how corruption is driving US foreign policy, including in the case of a gold-bar bribe from the Swiss. Then they talk about new reports on embattled (and embarrassing) FBI Director Kash Patel, what leaked emails tell us about Jeffrey Epstein’s relationship with Israeli intelligence and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, how Chinese hackers used AI in a game-changing new way, why the former prime minister of Bangladesh was sentenced to death, a massive corruption scandal in Ukraine, an update on civilians fleeing violence in Sudan, and a new documentary about how Adolf Hitler’s teeny tiny secret caused big problems. Then Ben speaks with author and former assistant administrator at USAID, Atul Gawande, whose new documentary “Rovina’s Choice” highlights the staggering rise in preventable malnutrition and deaths after American cuts to foreign aid (Listen here).
Muhammad bin Salman’s first visit to the White House in seven years earned the Saudi crown prince new weapons, giant tech deals and a burnished reputation. Our correspondent explains Trump’s warm welcome. Why gay rights in Hong Kong are going backwards. And how snail farms help Britons dodge tax (Listen here).
It's a massive, long-term commitment — and one that appears to shrug off doubts regarding the tank's role on the battlefield of the future. General Dynamics Land Systems makes the Abrams main battle tank. It's used by the U.S. Army and has been adopted overseas, including by Ukraine (Read more at Axios).
While Trump and his advisers acknowledge the gaps between the Saudis and the Israelis are still wide, the White House told the Saudis it wanted to see some progress on this issue during the Trump-MBS meeting, U.S. officials said (Read more at Axios).
“I will say that we will be doing that,” Trump told reporters at the White House, "We'll be selling F-35s". In a potential multibillion-dollar deal, Riyadh wants to buy as many as 48 US-made jets. Through the deal, Saudi Arabia is seeking to strengthen its security in the face of threats from countries such as Iran and militias across the Middle East (Read more at Euronews).
Senior executives from IBM, Alphabet's Google, Salesforce, Andreessen Horowitz, Halliburton, Adobe, Aramco, State Street and Parsons Corp are also expected at the Nov. 19 event at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The event is planned for the day after the crown prince, widely known by his initials MBS, meets with President Donald Trump (Read more at Reuters).
For days leading up to his visit, diplomats and Middle East watchers were placing bets on whether Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman would subject himself to one of US President Donald Trump’s notorious, and often raw, Oval Office press briefings. Payments are now due in full. For about 40 minutes, Trump and the crown prince fielded reporters' questions on almost every topic, from the murder of Middle East Eye and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi to AI chips and arms sales - all with the cameras rolling (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The Saudi Crown Prince believed Trump's direct pressure was needed to break a logjam in talks to end more than two and a half years of war, pointing to his work to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza last month (Read more at New Arab).
Saudi luxury real estate developer Dar Global hopes to fund much of its latest Trump hotel in the Maldives by selling blockchain-based crypto tokens to U.S. retail investors. London-listed Dar Global is one of The Trump Organization's main overseas partners, with seven projects under development including an 80-storey tower in Dubai, a golf resort in Qatar and hotels and high-end homes across Saudi Arabia and Oman (Read more at MSN).
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Washington marks his first U.S. trip since the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. Discussions are centered on significant defense agreements, access to artificial intelligence technology, and progress toward a civilian nuclear deal with the United States. The visit underscores a strategic realignment prioritizing security and technological advancement for Saudi Arabia (Read more at Fundfa).
Seven years on, MbS now casts himself as a broker of peace, repairing ties with Iran, pushing for a Gaza ceasefire and welcoming Syria back into the Arab fold, a striking pivot from a prince once branded reckless for plunging into Yemen’s war. Both reformist and autocrat, MbS has emerged as the most momentous and audacious leader in the kingdom’s modern history -- driving its transformation and shaping its future (Read more at Global Banking and Finance).
The chief executive of Diriyah said the Trump family business and Saudi giga-project could announce a deal 'soon'. “Nothing announced yet, but soon to be,” Jerry Inzerillo said, adding it was “just a matter of time” before the Trump Organization reached a deal (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Given this official and personal bond between the president and the crown prince, expectations are high about how their latest meeting will influence relations between their countries and the wider region. In Washington, I heard extensive policy discussions about what this visit could achieve and what its implications might be for peace with Israel, ties with Iran, the region’s geopolitical balance and the long-term economic, military and nuclear partnership that Riyadh and Washington are trying to structure through the mid-21st century and possibly beyond (Read more at Arabnews).
Steve Lutes says Saudi-US ties are resilient and rapidly shifting toward technology, innovation and next-generation economic cooperation. Saudi Vision 2030 reforms are driving a surge in US corporate interest across sectors like AI, cloud services, biotech and advanced manufacturing (Read more at Arabnews).
What began as a reliance on oil and gas has expanded to more diverse economic collaboration built on Vision 2030 initiatives. Economic cooperation between the two nations was solidified in the early 1930s when King Abdulaziz granted the right of oil exploration to the American company Standard Oil through a 66-year contract. This led to the formation of the Arabian-American Oil Company, better known as Aramco (Read more at Arabnews).
Document 109, dated June 5, 1974, at 5:15 p.m., captures a pivotal Washington encounter between King Fahd, who was then serving as Saudi Arabia’s second deputy prime minister, and US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Historians of bilateral relations recognize this gathering as the bedrock upon which numerous subsequent economic and military initiatives were constructed. Kissinger declared: “It is our firm view that a strong Saudi Arabia is in the interest of the United States and will contribute to peace and stability in the area" (Read more at Arabnews).
Nearly every American President since Richard Nixon in 1974 has visited Saudi Arabia either to avoid regional conflicts or to reinforce bilateral relations in foreign and economic policy. But none of them have made the Kingdom more of a foundation of America’s foreign and economic policies than President Donald Trump (Read more at Arabnews).
Relationship between the two countries “can be as diverse as the Saudi economy is becoming. Once upon a time, oil and defense really dominated the relationship. The big change was really Saudi’s decision to start diversifying its economy. That created huge opportunities for cooperation with the US, particularly with the US companies (Read more at Arabnews).
Israel is not opposed to the US sale of F-35s to Saudi Arabia — but is insisting Washington condition it on whether Riyadh and Jerusalem make diplomatic progress. “We told the Trump administration that the supply of F-35s to Saudi Arabia needs to be subject to Saudi normalization with Israel,” an unnamed Israeli official said (Read more at NY Post).
It may be a coincidence, but history rarely writes itself without purpose. Next week’s meeting in Washington between Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman and US President Donald J. Trump falls 80 years after the seminal 1945 encounter between King Abdulaziz and President Franklin D. Roosevelt aboard the USS Quincy. That meeting laid the foundation for a strategic partnership that has endured wars, oil shocks and political transitions. The parallels between then and now are striking — and significant (Read more at Arabnews).
Valued at potentially $142 billion as part of a broader defense framework, this proposed sale represents one of the largest weapons transactions in recent history, aimed at bolstering Saudi Arabia's air superiority against regional threats like Iran. Pentagon insiders warn that approving the deal could expose America's most sophisticated aviation technology to unintended vulnerabilities, potentially reshaping the balance of power in the volatile Gulf region (Read more at Aeronews Journal).
-- Saudi Aramco, one of the world's largest oil exporters, wants to become a major liquefied natural gas player, especially in the U.S., where capacity is expected to grow quickly in the coming years (Read more at Market Screener).
President Trump told Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) in a phone call last month that, with the Gaza war ending, he expects Saudi Arabia to move toward normalization with Israel, two U.S. officials said (Read more at Axios).
The move, which follows a phone call last week between Mohammed bin Salman and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) commander Abdul Fattah al-Burhan, would mark a rare direct engagement between the Saudi ruler and Trump on Sudan. A Sudanese source briefed on the call between Mohammed bin Salman and Burhan said that the general told the crown prince there was no way the war in Sudan would end without US pressure on the UAE. The source told MEE that Mohammed bin Salman promised Burhan he would raise the issue with Trump (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The Nov. 19 event at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will be co-hosted by the Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia and the U.S.-Saudi Business Council. The forum will "explore new investment horizons across critical sectors, including energy, technology, financial services, infrastructure, and healthcare" and will be a platform for "exclusive business matchmaking (Read more at AOL).
By aligning diplomatic decisions with national interests and regional responsibilities, Saudi Arabia has developed a sophisticated approach to statecraft. Jonathan Panikoff, a former career US intelligence officer for Middle Eastern affairs, noted that Saudi Arabia will not move forward with normalisation until a tangible path to a Palestinian state exists. He added that the crown prince is expected to use his influence in Washington to secure clear American support for a sovereign Palestinian state, a move that reflects the kingdom’s diplomatic skill in managing global power dynamics without compromising national principles. The kingdom has also demonstrated its ability to balance national security with strategic independence by ensuring that negotiations with Washington do not affect the autonomy of its national decisions or vital interests (Read more at Arab Weekly).
The three-judge panel affirmed most of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida’s decision to throw out the case for lack of jurisdiction under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act. The three judges identified one exception. “One group, or bundle, of the plaintiffs’ claims—those based on the theory that the kingdom had been grossly negligent in vetting, hiring and sending airman al-Shamrani to the United States. Mohammed Saeed al-Shamrani was a second lieutenant in the Royal Saudi Air Force who came to the United States in 2017 to take part in a Pentagon-sponsored pilot training program for foreign nationals. In 2019, he shot 11 people at Naval Air Station Pensacola, killing three, before police shot and killed him (Read more at JNS).
The sale would signify a significant change in policy, with the potential to alter the military balance in the Middle East while also challenging Washington’s commitment to maintaining Israel’s ‘qualitative military edge. Although Israel also has F-35 stealth fighter jets in its fleet, Saudi Arabia’s acquisition would help narrow its capability gap with Israel (Read more at India).
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) will visit Washington, DC, later this month for an official working meeting with US President Donald Trump, a White House official said, marking the Saudi Arabian leader’s second visit to the United States capital in seven years. The visit of the Saudi royal comes as Trump pushes countries to join the Abraham Accords (Read more at Aljazeera).
"He has said they won't join the Abraham Accords without a two-state solution. Do you believe that?" CBS correspondent Norah O'Donnell asked. "No, I think he's going to join," Trump responded. "I think we will have a solution." "I don't know if it's going to be two-state, that's going to be up to Israel - and other people, and me - but look, the main thing is, you could have never had any kind of a deal if you had a nuclear Iran," he added, seemingly deflecting to the ceasefire deal his administration helped broker in Gaza (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Jane Fraser, CEO of Citigroup, has been named co-chair representing the US side, while Lubna Olayan, Chair of Olayan Group, will serve as co-chair representing Saudi Arabia. Fraser succeeds Steve Demetriou, former CEO of Jacobs Engineering Group, who held the position from 2018 to 2024 (Read more at Saudi Gazette).
The deal in discussion was similar to the recent US-Qatar pact that pledged to treat any armed attack on Qatar as a threat to the United States. Last month, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia entered into a landmark mutual defence agreement, under which any aggression against one state will be considered an attack on both (Read more at Dawn).
“I hope to see Saudi Arabia go in, and I hope to see others go in. I think when Saudi Arabia goes in, everybody goes in,” Trump said. The US president called the pact a “miracle” and “amazing” and hailed the United Arab Emirates’s signing of it. The “Abraham Accords” secured agreements between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan (Read more at Aljazeera).
The US and Saudi Arabia are advancing on an agreement that would allow US chip companies to export semiconductors to Saudi Arabia and a deal could be finalized soon, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter (Read more at Economic Times).
Co-founded by Oscar-winning actor and comedian Whoopi Goldberg, All Women’s Sports Network (AWSN) was launched late last year as the first global media channel dedicated exclusively to showcasing women’s sports. The 24-hour “SSC AWSN” channel will be available in the kingdom via the MBC Shahid streaming platform from Friday (Read more at Arab Weekly).
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of the four nations — known as the “Quad” — called for an immediate and lasting halt to the fighting, along with a nine-month transitional process to establish a civilian-led government (Read more at Radiotamazuj).
Macquarie Asset Management (MAM) is looking to set up an office in Saudi Arabia after signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the country’s USD925 billion ($1.4 trillion) sovereign wealth fund, Public Investment Fund (PIF). Saudi Arabia is currently aiming to achieve USD100 billion in foreign direct investment by 2030 as part of its Vision 2030 program to diversify its economy away from oil dependency and boost its private sector (Read more at Capital Brief).
President Donald Trump's special envoy for peace missions, Steve Witkoff, has been working diligently to persuade Adams to consider being the ambassador to Saudi Arabia - a very plum posting at a critical time for US relations with the kingdom. If Adams were to exit the race, it would clear the path for former governor Andrew Cuomo, who is staunchly backed by pro-Israel groups, to be the main challenger to the leading candidate, Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Judge George B Daniels said that the claims in the lawsuit, brought by the families of those murdered, were legally sufficient to proceed to trial. He noted that the employment of an imam and an accountant by Saudi Arabia likely had some connection with the pair’s support of two al-Qaida members who came to the United States in early 2000 to study English and take flight lessons. He said the plaintiffs had provided “reasonable evidence as to the roles” that two Saudi men, Omar al-Bayoumi and Fahad al-Thumairy, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia allegedly played (Read more at Guardian).
Humain, Saudi Arabia’s new artificial intelligence company, has begun construction of its first data centers in the Kingdom, and plans to bring them online in early 2026 using semiconductors imported from the US, Bloomberg News reported on Monday. Locations in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital, and Dammam, in the Eastern Province, are expected to launch in the second quarter, each with an initial capacity of up to 100 megawatts, CEO Tareq Amin told Bloomberg in an interview (Read more at Arabnews).
Israel was running low on Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) interceptors as Iranian ballistic missiles slammed into Israeli cities in June. But Saudi Arabia was well placed to help Israel, and US officials have been keen to emphasise that Iran is a threat to them as well as Israel (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday that the kingdom supported Syria’s military asserting control in the southern Syrian province of Sweida (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Saudi Arabia is batting down the hatches for a "long and shallow” oil price war, in part to clip the wings of US shale energy companies, the Bank of America’s top commodities expert said (Read more at Middle East Eye).
U.S. President Donald Trump, whose family has major business interests in the Gulf countries he is visiting this week, said there was no talk of building a Trump Tower in Syria or golf during his meetings in Saudi Arabia. Trump’s family has forged multi-billion dollar business deals in the Gulf, moves that Democrats and other critics say could open pathways to improperly influence the president (Read more at AOL).
Trump unveiled an arms sales package to Saudi Arabia worth nearly $142bn this week. A White House statement called it "the largest defense cooperation agreement” in American history. Although it didn’t specify which arms the US would sell Saudi Arabia, F-35s are on the table, the officials said (Read more at Middle East Eye).
“If, for instance, the US and Iran can successfully conclude their nuclear negotiations, that will remove a huge burden of risk in our region, and will open up significant avenues for even greater cooperation, greater regional integration, greater region cooperation, trade, investment,” in very significant ways, Prince Faisal stated, adding that Kingdom “fully supports” the current nuclear negotiations between US and Iran (Read more at Iran Front Page).
Saudi Arabia’s PIF, one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds with over $900 billion in assets, sits at the heart of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s economic transformation agenda. Saudi Arabia is in a race to secure more outside money to keep ambitious plans to diversify its economy on track. The country set itself a lofty target to attract $100 billion in annual foreign direct investment by the turn of the decade (Read more at Investing).
President Donald Trump urged Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords while giving a speech in the country on Tuesday as part of his first overseas trip in his second term (Read more at MSN).
As Air Force One approached Riyadh, Saudi pilots in six American-made F-15 fighter jets escorted the plane. After a traditional coffee ceremony inside the royal terminal at the airport, Trump’s limousine was flanked by riders on white Arabian horses carrying American and Saudi flags. An honor guard was lined up with golden swords (Read more at AP).
Nvidia stock gained 5.6 per cent on news that it would supply 18,000 AI chips to Saudi Arabia. The company's market value touched $3 trillion (Read more at Livemint).
"Saudi Arabia has proved the critics totally wrong," Trump said. Complimenting the gleaming skyscrapers in the desert capital, Trump said: "The transformation that has occurred under the leadership of King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad has been truly extraordinary." "I've never seen anything at that scale happen before," he said (Read more at Jakarta Post).
Tuesday’s agreement is designed to help modernise the Saudi military with “state-of-the-art warfighting equipment and services from over a dozen US defense firms”, according to the White House fact sheet. “The first key component of this is upgrading the defence capabilities of Saudi Arabia.” (Read more at Aljazeera).
The partnership includes agreements for energy, mining, and defense (Read more at Reuters).
Saudi Aramco will sign memoranda of understanding with Sempra and NextDecade for the supply of ~6.2M tons of liquefied natural gas from the U.S., Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said (Read more at MSN).
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) led eight other House Democrats who are Jewish in a letter yesterday urging U.S. President Donald Trump to keep cooperation with Saudi Arabia on a civilian nuclear program “explicitly” tied to the kingdom’s normalization with Israel (Read more at JNS).
"With this trip, we're adding over $1 trillion more in terms of investment into our country and buying our products," Trump told the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum in Riyadh (Read more at Reuters).
United States President Donald Trump says that forging formal relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel would be a “dream”, but he wants the kingdom to do it on its “own time” (Read more at Aljazeera).
Musk’s reported invitation comes on the sidelines of United States President Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East. Elon Musk’s relationship with Riyadh has notably improved since the start of Trump’s second term as United States president. Highlighting this improvement was Tesla’s launch in Saudi (Read more at Teslarati).
Donald Trump visits Saudi Arabia this week, 80 years after President Franklin D. Roosevelt laid the foundations of longstanding Saudi-U.S. relations based on an ironclad arrangement - the kingdom pumps oil, and the superpower provides security. Here is a timeline of U.S. presidential visits to Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter and one of Washington's most important allies: Roosevelt - 1945, Richard Nixon - 1974, Jimmy Carter - 1978, George H.W. Bush - 1990 and 1992, Bill Clinton - 1994, George W. Bush - 2008, Barack Obama - 2009, 2014, 2015, and 2016, Donald Trump - 2017, Joe Biden - 2022 (Read more at AOL).
The United States is no longer demanding that Saudi Arabia normalise ties with Israel as a condition for progress on its civil nuclear programme. Under former President Joe Biden, nuclear talks were an element of a wider US-Saudi deal tied to Riyadh’s goal of a defence treaty with Washington (Read more at Middle East Monitor).
Saudi Arabia has held off formally joining the BRICS bloc of nations despite attending a meeting in Brazil last week. The issue of BRICS membership has been diplomatically sensitive for Saudi Arabia since it was first invited to join in 2023, and remains so with President Donald Trump due to visit next week and Riyadh negotiating nuclear and technology deals (Read more at AOL).
As the world's largest oil exporter Saudi Arabia may not seem an obvious candidate for nuclear power, but it aims to reduce carbon emissions and free up crude for export under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's Vision 2030 economic plan. However, Saudi Arabia has also said that if old foe Iran develops a nuclear weapon it would have to follow suit - a declaration apparently aimed at ramping up pressure on Tehran, but which has also fuelled concern about its own ambitions. A nuclear deal could be a sweetener in U.S. diplomatic efforts with the kingdom (Read more at AOL).
This move comes as Saudi Arabia accelerates its drive to become a global hub for battery and electric vehicle manufacturing. The Kingdom is investing heavily in mining and industrial development as part of its broader strategy to diversify the economy away from oil dependence under Vision 2030 (Read more at Mining.com).
Although Trump has the authority to alter the official US designation, he cannot enforce a global consensus on the name. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), which includes the United States as a member, is responsible for ensuring that all the world's seas, oceans, and navigable waters are uniformly surveyed and charted (Read more at The Mirror).
The sale includes 1,000 AIM-120C-8 AMRAAMs, 50 AIM-120C-8 AMRAAM guidance sections, and technical support. RTX is the principal contractor, and no known offset agreement has been proposed. The sale requires the approval of the US Congress to go through (Read more at Defense Post).
The arms sale involves 1,000 AIM-120C-8 advanced medium range air-to-air missiles, guidance sections and other technical support. The missiles will be built by RTX Corp of Tucson, Ariz (Read more at AP).
Saudi Arabia has set a ground rule for US President Donald Trump and his entourage ahead of their visit to the kingdom in May: keep talk of normalisation with Israel off the agenda. That was the message delivered by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud during his visit to Washington DC last month to plan Trump’s visit to the kingdom and in follow-up discussions among senior officials (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The offered package comes after the administration of former President Joe Biden unsuccessfully tried to finalise a defence pact with Riyadh as part of a broad deal that envisioned Saudi Arabia normalising ties with Israel (Read more at Daily Star).
KKR, a leading global investment firm, today announced that it is expanding its presence in the Middle East including the appointment of General David Petraeus (US Army, Ret.) as Chairman of KKR Middle East and the establishment of a dedicated investment team in the region led by Julian Barratt-Due, a Managing Director at KKR. These appointments build on KKR’s ongoing strategic commitment to the region, including having local offices since 2009 and deploying capital directly since 2019 (Read more at Yahoo Finance).
A so-called 123 agreement with Riyadh refers to Section 123 of the U.S. Atomic Energy Act of 1954 and is required to permit the U.S. government and American companies to work with entities in the kingdom to develop a civil nuclear industry. Saudi authorities have not agreed to the requirements under the act, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said. It specifies nine non-proliferation criteria a state must meet to keep it from using the technology to develop nuclear arms or transfer sensitive materials to others (Read more at AOL).
Chinese officials have been canvassing other trading partners about how to deal with the US tariffs, most recently talking to counterparts in Spain, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao spoke to Saudi Arabia’s Commerce Minister Majid bin Abdullah al-Qasabi about enhancing cooperation with countries within the Gulf Cooperation Council (Read more at Arab Weekly).
Trump’s tariffs could give the kingdom the jolt it needs by crashing energy prices and making Chinese exports less competitive. Saudi Arabia and other energy-rich Gulf states could benefit as they become the new safe havens for manufacturers looking to reduce tariff risks. Saudi Arabia should be sending their trade representatives to the Trump administration right now, asking, ‘What was China providing you. Tell us what it is and we will make it in Saudi Arabia and provide a great trade deal (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Saudi Arabia has huge plans for EVs that Tesla has not been able to tap, partly because of an earlier feud between its billionaire CEO, Elon Musk and the kingdom's powerful Public Investment Fund (PIF) sovereign wealth fund that dates back to 2018. Relations between Riyadh and Musk have improved since he took a high-profile role in U.S. President Donald Trump's election campaign and then a top position in his administration (Read more at Daily Sabah).
Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud will also discuss Gaza and the status of Yemen's Houthis during meetings with U.S. government officials, the source said. The trip was scheduled before last week's U.S. tariffs announcement (Read more at Ammonnews).
The diplomats "agreed that the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces must return to peace talks, protect civilians, open humanitarian corridors, and return to civilian governance." The call came after the Sudanese army said last week it had retaken full control of the capital Khartoum after weeks of attacks by the paramilitaries (Read more at France 24).
Trump's decision to go to Saudi Arabia on his first foreign trip signals how close the relationship between the Trump administration and Gulf countries has become, especially when it comes to economic cooperation and investment (Read more at Axios).
The brand has had considerable success in neighboring United Arab Emirates, where most ride-hailing apps offer electric vehicles. Trump said this month he would likely make his first trip abroad to Saudi Arabia, after asking the kingdom in January to spend upwards of $1 trillion in the U.S. economy, over four years, including military purchases (Read more at CNBC).
The Oregon-based firm will provide its next-generation Lightweight Vehicle Surveillance System (LVSS) to a “high-profile military entity” in the Kingdom. Teledyne FLIR has secured a $7.8-million contract to deliver long-range thermal surveillance systems and associated support services (Read more at Defense Post).
Sources at the Pentagon on Monday said the two sides also discussed security measures against Iran. Asked if the US would help defend Saudi Arabia against an attack by Iran, Hegseth confirmed the two allies were discussing the issue (Read more at Arab Weekly).
An aide close to Zelenskyy said that as of Saturday evening, Ukraine has still not been invited to the peace talks between the U.S. and Russia in Saudi Arabia (Read more at NBC News).
The draft ideas will be discussed at a regional meeting in Riyadh this month. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, or MbS, had warm relations with Trump during the first administration and he's central to Arab ties in the new Trump era. But the kingdom was angered by the U.S. president's Gaza idea, which nixes its demand for a clear path to Palestinian statehood in return for normalizing Saudi ties with Israel (Read more at Yahoo News).
The ministry said it "commends the phone call" between Trump and Putin and the "possibility" of hosting a summit in the kingdom (Read more at Moscow Times).
The trip will center on freeing American and all other hostages from Hamas captivity, advancing to Phase II of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, and countering the destabilizing activities of the Iranian regime and its proxies (Read more at State Department Website).
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Russia's sovereign wealth fund chief Kirill Dmitriev were involved in negotiations over the release of U.S. teacher Marc Fogel from a Russian prison. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who visited Saudi Arabia in 2023, said last September that he was grateful to Mohammed bin Salman for his role in the previous exchange (Read more at AOL).
Among other attendees poised to attend the Miami summit are TikTok CEO, Shou Zi Chew, Oracle CEO Safra Catz, as well as Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the $925 billion Saudi Public Investment Fund, according to the FII website. The public website does not list Trump as an attendee (Read more at Middle East Monitor).
But some Russian diplomats and intelligence officials reportedly oppose holding the summit there due to the countries’ close ties with the U.S. military and intelligence services. While Saudi Arabia and the UAE have not joined Western sanctions or criticized Russia’s invasion, their leaders have maintained diplomatic ties with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Neither country is a member of the International Criminal Court, which issued an arrest warrant for Putin in 2023 over alleged war crimes. Putin visited both Saudi Arabia and the UAE later that year. Russia has already ruled out NATO member Turkey as a potential summit venue, citing its role in failed peace talks held in Istanbul in March 2022 (Read more at Moscow Times).
Watchdog groups contacted by USA TODAY said they’re concerned that the call suggests Trump may seek to exploit his vast new political power and influence to help the Trump Organization and its sprawling business empire (Read more at USA Today)
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said on Friday from Damascus that his country was engaged in an active dialogue with Europe and the U.S. to help lift economic sanctions imposed on Syria (Source: Yahoo News).
The commitment comes from President Donald Trump’s first call with a foreign leader in his second term. “I’ll be asking the crown prince, who’s a fantastic guy, to round it out to around one trillion,” Trump said. “And I think they’ll do that because we’ve been very good to them.” (Read more at SAN)
Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud also said in Davos that he hoped President Trump's approach to Iran would be met with a willingness by Tehran to positively engage with the U.S. administration and address the issue of its nuclear programme (Read more at USNews).
the cash-rich kingdom has encountered multiple impediments in purchasing the stealthy US combat aircraft. For one, Saudi Arabia has been accused of carrying out widespread human rights violations and civilian deaths through its intervention in Yemen’s civil war. Currently, only three countries have an operational fifth-generation stealth fighter jet, including the United States, China, and Russia. China has two fifth-generation stealth aircraft: the J-20 Mighty Dragon and the newly unveiled J-35. Since China is unlikely to export the J-20 for security reasons, the J-35A, designed with an eye on export, is the only available option for an interested buyer. Unlike the US and China, Russia has one stealth fighter to offer, Su-57 Felon. The latest reports in local Turkish media claim that Saudi Arabia is mulling the purchase of 100 KAAN fifth-generation stealth fighter jets from Turkey (Read more at Euroasiantimes).
The Pentagon said that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. CQ Brown, and Chief of General Staff, Gen. Fayyad Al-Ruwaili, spoke about the importance of peacefully de-escalating tensions in the region. The two generals spoke about ways to increase the strength of the bilateral relationship between the US and Saudi Arabian militaries, including capacity building, military training, and exercises (Read more at Al Arabiya)
“Now the opportunity is there, and I know this is something that the president (Trump) will be focused on, to broaden that out with the Saudis,” Blinken said (Read more at Arab Weekly).
The Trump Organisation plans to build a Trump Tower in the Saudi capital Riyadh as part of a real estate expansion in the region. London-listed Dar Global’s chief executive said the other new joint project planned in Riyadh is a Trump Golf community similar to one launched in Oman in 2022 (Read more at Arab Weekly).
Saudi Arabia is now pushing for a more modest military cooperation agreement. Riyadh also softened its position on Palestinian statehood, telling Washington that a public commitment from Israel to a two-state solution could be enough for the Gulf kingdom to normalise relations (Read more at MSN).
The deal by Aramco Digital, the wholly-owned technology subsidiary of the oil giant, would be its first major transaction in the telecommunications industry as part of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 plan, which focuses on technological advancements and economic diversification (Read more at Reuters).
Fresh attempts by the United States and Saudi Arabia to reach a defense pact are part of a wider effort to reshape regional and global dynamics, and to degrade Iran's influence, according to observers in Israel (Read more at JNS).
The United States and Saudi Arabia are discussing a potential security agreement that wouldn't involve a broader deal with Israel. The agreement under discussion is not a full defense treaty (Read more at USNews).
Saudi commentator Ali Shihabi says Kingdom does not have a favorite but is looking to work closely with whichever candidate wins to help resolve the Middle East conflict. Shihabi said Saudi Arabia may have historically leaned more toward the Republican Party, but the situation is different this time around, as in recent years the Kingdom’s relationship with the Democrats has vastly improved (Read more at Arabnews).
Potential US-Saudi agreements about trade and artificial intelligence are “not tied to any third parties” and “can progress probably quite quickly,” Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said. “Some of the more significant defence cooperation agreements are much more complicated. We would certainly welcome an opportunity to finish them before the (end of the Biden) administration’s term, but that’s reliant on other factors outside of our control,” he said (Read more at Arab Weekly).
Kushner, who is married to Trump's eldest daughter, Ivanka, has long faced criticism from Democratic figures regarding a $2 billion investment secured by his private equity fund, Affinity Partners. This funding from a Saudi Arabian fund led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was received six months after Kushner left his White House position in January 2021 (Read more at Newsweek).
"The proposed sale will improve the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s capability to meet current and future threats by enhancing the strength of its homeland defense," it said in a statement (Read more at Anadolu Ajansı).
The deal includes 220 Raytheon AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder Tactical Missiles, missile containers, support equipment, spares, missile software, training, and related technical assistance and program support. “This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by ensuring the readiness of a friendly country that continues to be an important force for political stability and economic growth in the Middle East,” the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement (Read more at Defense Post).
As part of their attempts to avoid being caught in the crossfire, Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar are also refusing to let Israel fly over their airspace for any attack on Iran and have conveyed this to Washington. The moves by the Gulf states come after a diplomatic push by Tehran to persuade its Gulf neighbors to use their influence with Washington amid rising concerns Israel could target Iran's oil production facilities (Read more at Daily Sabah).
43 old Kushner has a close relationship with Saudi Arabia and has invested $2 billion in his firm Affinity Partners, and Mr. Kushner created it after he left the White House. They included discussions on the process of normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, a key diplomatic objective of the Biden and Trump administrations (Read more at CNA).
Saudi Arabia’s Commander of the Joint Forces, Lieutenant General Fahad bin Hamad Al Salman, received a delegation from the US armed forces in Riyadh on Sunday and discussed ways to strengthen the two countries' military partnership (Read more at Arabnews)
Prince Turki al-Faisal stated that “Israeli lobbyists” enjoyed tax-free status in the US because they were considered to be “philanthropic or humanitarian”, rather than as representing the interests of Israel. He said, “There are many tools that are available to the United States, not simply harsh talk, which seems to have gotten us nowhere. But is America ready to do that?” (Read more at Middle East Eye)
It would help the country train and run the most powerful AI models. Earlier this year, the US curtailed shipments of Nvidia’s advanced graphics cards out of concern that Saudi Arabia’s close ties with China could allow valuable AI secrets to flow there. Some who work for the Saudi Data and AI Authority, said the country is working to satisfy US security demands in an effort to get the chips as soon as possible (Read more at Semafor).
He has invoked Anwar Sadat, the Egyptian leader slain after striking a peace deal with Israel, asking what the U.S. did to protect Sadat. He also has discussed the threats he faces in explaining why any such deal must include a true path to a Palestinian state — especially now that the war in Gaza has heightened Arab fury toward Israel (Read more at Politico).
The administration of US President Joe Biden has in fact come full circle in its cycle of strategic confusion in the Middle East (Read more at Arab Weekly).
One source said sales could resume as early as next week. Ties between the kingdom and the United States have warmed since then, as Washington has worked more closely with Riyadh in the aftermath of Hamas’ October 7 attack to devise a plan for post-war Gaza (Read more at South China Morning Post).
It opens new possibilities for cooperation with NASA in areas such as space science, exploration, aeronautics, space operations, education, and Earth science. “The agreement represents a turning point in the Kingdom’s journey towards building a strong and prosperous space sector,” said Saudi Space Agency Chairman (Read more at NASA)
This bilateral agreement, once finalised, will be uncoupled from the regional “Grand Bargain”, which is supposed to include Saudi normalisation with Israel. Keeping normalisation outside the deal with the US, at least for now, would also allow Riyadh to avoid the domestic and regional blowback considering the tensions fuelled by the war in Gaza (Read more at Arab Weekly).
The potential sale of the F-35s to the Saudis was not guaranteed for a variety of reasons, but its inclusion in the discussions was significant because Riyadh has desired the stealthy fighter jet for years. The U.S.-Saudi security accord is also expected to involve sharing emerging technologies with Riyadh, including artificial intelligence (Read more at Reuters).
The deal included “a two-state solution that meets the aspirations and legitimate rights of the Palestinian people” and “the situation in Gaza and the need to stop the war there and facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid.” (Read more at Stripes).
"The visit is a continuation of long-standing engagement between the US and this region," the official said. "Specifically, for the Department of Energy, it will move forward work both countries are doing on climate cooperation and to diversify the energy economy." (Read more at Yahoo Finance)
The agreement is about the U.S. security guarantees and civilian nuclear assistance in return for halting Chinese arms purchases and restricting Beijing’s investment in the country, even as an Israel-Saudi normalization deal envisioned as part of a Middle East “grand bargain” remains elusive. The U.S.-Saudi security accord is also expected to involve sharing emerging technologies with Riyadh, including artificial intelligence. The terms are expected to be finalized within weeks (Read more at USNews).
The talks in Riyadh may also include UK Foreign Secretary, David Cameron, and key officials from the European Union, Jordan, Egypt and Qatar, as well as the Palestinian Authority (Read more at Middle East Monitor).
Furthermore, the Arab countries opened their airspace to fighter jets, shared radar surveillance information or, in some cases, provided their own forces to help. Jordan said it would allow U.S. and other countries' warplanes to use its airspace, even using its own aircraft to help intercept the Iranian threats (Read more at I24).
Tim Lenderking will meet regional officials to discuss ways to deescalate the crisis and “renew the focus on securing a durable peace for the Yemeni people. “The United States remains firmly committed to supporting a durable peace in Yemen and alleviating the complex humanitarian and economic crises harming the Yemeni people,” the State Department said (Read more at Arabnews).
U.S. officials hope to reach a bilateral agreement with the Saudis and then possibly present it to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose side of the deal would include committing to a path toward a two-state solution. Netanyahu would then face a choice: If he agrees, he could broke a historic peace deal with Saudi Arabia. If he says no, he could be exposed as a rejectionist and lose whatever U.S. support he still has left (Read more at Axios).
But he also made clear what he had said to me before, which is that in order to do that, two things will be required -- an end to the conflict in Gaza, and a clear, credible timebound path to the establishment of a Palestinian state (Link).
