State Department Green-lights Saudi F-35s

The United States State Department approved a $24.3 billion sale of 48 F-35 Lightning ii fighter jets and associated equipment to Saudi Arabia yesterday. If approved by Congress, Saudi Arabia will become the first Arab country to fly the F-35.

• Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been trying to obtain the fifth-generation stealth multirole fighter for years. U.S. President Donald Trump first announced the sale in November 2025.

Why now? The State Department’s approval comes as Saudi Arabia is getting sucked into war with Yemen’s Houthi terror group. The Houthis have declared war on any shipping heading to Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea ports and have consolidated their influence over the Bab el-Mandeb strait, the waterway connecting the Red Sea with the Indian Ocean.

Is this smart? The only Middle East military that currently operates F-35s is Israel. Selling the F-35 to countries like Saudi Arabia negates that strategic advantage.

• Al-Monitor reported the Israel Defense Forces sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz the day prior, expressing “deep concern” that the sale will “undermine Israel’s exclusive attack and penetration capabilities ….”
• According to the New York Times, the U.S. Department of War and other intelligence-affiliated departments are worried that selling F-35s to Saudi Arabia could also give China a means of obtaining and examining the warplane’s sensitive technology for electronic and airframe vulnerabilities. China and Saudi Arabia have a close relationship.

The F-35 is the U.S. military’s most advanced mainline fighter. The U.S. generally gives such technology only to nations it trusts. A prophecy in Psalm 83 includes “the Ishmaelites,” ancestors of the Saudi Arabians, participating in a conspiracy “that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.” This includes not only the State of Israel but also the other nations that descended from the other tribes of ancient Israel: nations that include the United States and Britain. Giving the Saudis such sophisticated and sensitive military technology could factor into this.

Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry explains more in Chapter 4 of his free booklet The King of the South.