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Trump says he’s making Saudi Arabia a major non-NATO ally
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President Trump said Tuesday he will designate Saudi Arabia as a major non-NATO ally, marking a step up in defense ties between the United States and the Gulf monarchy.
Mr. Trump announced the move at a black-tie dinner at the White House in honor of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia. The two leaders signed a new strategic defense deal earlier in the day, and Mr. Trump said Monday the U.S. will sell F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia.
The designation could open the door to further collaboration between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. military, including easier access to U.S.-made military equipment. It’s also a symbolic move: Mr. Trump said in brief remarks Tuesday evening that it would take “our military cooperation to even greater heights.”
There are currently 20 major non-NATO allies, including other Middle Eastern countries like Israel, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan.
“A stronger and more capable alliance will advance the interests of both countries, and it will serve the highest interests of peace,” Mr. Trump said during Tuesday’s dinner.
The U.S.’s close relationship with Saudi Arabia dates back eight decades, bookended by a meeting between King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud and former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt aboard a U.S. Navy cruiser in 1945. The two countries have long cooperated on defense, and in recent decades, they have been bound together in part by a mutual rivalry with Iran.
During Tuesday’s meetings — marked by elaborate White House ceremonies and a military flyover — Mr. Trump pressed for even further military and economic cooperation with the Gulf state. The White House said Tuesday that Saudi Arabia will buy hundreds of tanks and fighter jets and will partner with the U.S. on artificial intelligence and civil nuclear issues, while bin Salman pledged to invest nearly $1 trillion in the U.S., up from $600 billion.
Members of Mr. Trump’s family also have some business interests in the country. Mr. Trump insisted earlier Tuesday he has “nothing to do” with those deals, and “they’ve done very little with Saudi Arabia, actually.”
Still unclear is whether Saudi Arabia will sign onto the Abraham Accords, a series of diplomatic deals brokered by Mr. Trump between Israel and majority-Muslim states like the United Arab Emirates. Most of those agreements were inked during the president’s first term, and Mr. Trump told “60 Minutes” he believes Saudi Arabia will also join.
During an Oval Office event earlier Tuesday, bin Salman told reporters he wants to join the accords but needs to see a path toward a Palestinian state. Mr. Trump added that the two leaders “had a very good talk on the Abraham Accords.”
But Saudi Arabia’s human rights record makes it a controversial U.S. partner. American intelligence agencies concluded in 2021 that bin Salman approved the 2018 killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist who regularly criticized the country’s regime in the pages of The Washington Post.
Mr. Trump told reporters Tuesday he believes bin Salman “knew nothing” about the 2018 killing, and called Khashoggi “extremely controversial.” Bin Salman said it was “really painful to hear” about the killing.
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Trump says MBS “knew nothing” about journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s killing despite 2021 U.S. intel report’s findings
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Washington — President Trump said Tuesday that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, “knew nothing” about the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, despite a 2021 intelligence report finding bin Salman ordered the killing.
“You’re mentioning somebody that was extremely controversial,” Mr. Trump said about Khashoggi in response to a question from a journalist about his business dealings with bin Salman despite the intelligence report’s findings. “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen, but he knew nothing about it and we can leave it at that.”
Sitting next to Mr. Trump in the Oval Office while visiting the White House, bin Salman said, “About the journalist, it’s really painful to hear that anyone losing his life for no real purpose.” The crown prince also said, “We did all the right steps in terms of investigation, etc., in Saudi Arabia and we’ve improved our system to be sure that nothing happened like that.”
“It’s painful and it’s a huge mistake, and we are doing our best that will never happen again,” bin Salman said.
Bin Salman is making his first visit to the White House since Khashoggi’s murder. Bin Salman has denied any involvement, but he told CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell in a 2019 “60 Minutes” interview, “I take full responsibility as a leader in Saudi Arabia, especially since it was committed by individuals working for the Saudi government.”
The 2021 U.S. intelligence report concluded that “the Crown Prince has had absolute control over the Kingdom’s security and intelligence organizations, making it highly unlikely that Saudi officials would have carried out an operation of this nature without the Crown Prince’s authorization.”
After Mr. Trump’s comments Tuesday, Khashoggi’s widow, Hanan Elatr Khashoggi, directed a message on social media to him, writing, “There is no justification to murder my husband.”
“While Jamal was a good transparent and brave man many people may not have agreed with his opinions and desire for freedom of the press,” she wrote.
In an interview with CBS News, she said she was “hurt” and “disappointed” by the Oval Office remarks.
Mr. Trump called bin Salman his friend and praised him as “incredible on human rights and everything else” as the Saudi royal made his first visit to the White House since Khashoggi’s killing.
Mr. Trump also insisted he has “nothing to do” with his family’s business dealings with Saudi Arabia, and said, “they’ve done very little with Saudi Arabia, actually.”
As families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack have pursued a civil lawsuit alleging the kingdom sponsored, aided and supported the al Qaeda hijackers, bin Salman has sought to distance the Saudi government from the attack.
“I feel painful about, you know, families of 9/11 in America, but you know, we have to focus on reality,” bin Salman said Tuesday. “Reality based on CIA documents and based on a lot of documents that Osama bin Laden used Saudi people in that event for one purpose: To destroy this relation, the American-Saudi relationship.”
Bin Salman said that “whoever buys that” is “helping Osama bin Laden’s purpose of destroying this relation.” Bin Salman said bin Laden knew the “strong” relationship between America and Saudi Arabia is “bad for extremism.”
Bin Salman and Mr. Trump announced Tuesday that Saudi Arabia will increase its investments of $600 billion in the U.S. to nearly $1 trillion.
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Opinion | The Art of a Deal With Saudi Arabia
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Trump says he’ll sell the F-35 fighter jets and more. What is MBS willing to give?
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How M.B.S. Won Back Washington
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The former ambassador to Saudi Arabia in the Biden Administration, Michael Ratney, made the argument in the Wall Street Journal recently that the investments in sports weren’t really about improving M.B.S.’s image in the West, but instead about making Saudi Arabia more of a normal country. This struck me as a little far-fetched. But you seem to be saying that, regardless of what the motives were, paying comedians to come to Riyadh or spending on American sports leagues has failed as an image-improvement strategy, and is somewhat separate from Saudi Arabia’s improved relationship with Washington.
The sports spending can be more than one thing. I think that the crown prince is a sports nut and very interested in global sport, both e-sport and normal sport. And he thought that these were good investments. Maybe they are, maybe they aren’t. I think LIV Golf might not be a great investment, but it was more than just a P.R. effort. He thought of it as a way to both make money in the long term and to make Saudi Arabia a more normal place. Some of the sports investments have been better than others. The investments in Newcastle FC in the Premier League seem to be pretty good. The Formula One stuff that they’re doing locally, I assume, brings in some amount of tourism, although I haven’t seen figures on that. So the whole sports campaign can be more than one thing. But if it was primarily aimed at improving Saudi Arabia’s public-opinion profile in the United States, then it was wasted money. I don’t think it has made a dent in the generally negative opinion most Americans have about the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
It seems like you’re describing the Biden relationship with Saudi Arabia as being more about these large economic factors. Dare I say that the Trump Administration’s embrace of M.B.S. might have to do with more personal economic matters, that Trump didn’t care about Jamal Khashoggi’s murder in the first place, and was annoyed by all the talk of punishing Saudi Arabia in his first term? And how do you understand the Trump relationship with M.B.S. now?
I don’t think it’s any different than President Trump’s policy in the first term. It’s the same reason that Willie Sutton robbed banks. It’s because that’s where the money is. I think President Trump, even more baldly in his second term, sees the difference between his own economic interest and the country’s economic interest as, in effect, inseparable. And that’s troublesome to me as an American citizen, but it’s certainly something that the Saudis understand because all those monarchies in the Persian Gulf region have been a combination of business interests and political interests forever, whether it’s oil or, in the pre-oil period, money from pearl diving. All of these ruling families have been part of the business environment in their countries. And so, in many ways, Saudi Arabia sees the Trump Administration as the first American government that it really understands because it’s not dissimilar to the way they view the intersection of politics and business. When Trump sent Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, to be his primary go-between with Saudi Arabia in the first term, I’m sure the Saudis understood.
It has been commonly assumed that M.B.S. wants to turn the country from a sort of strange religious dictatorship into a more banal, repressive dictatorship. Do you think that’s the way that we should understand what he’s been trying to do? I keep thinking that this is best evoked by the fact that he has been relaxing some laws that restricted women’s rights in Saudi Arabia, while at the same time throwing women’s-rights advocates in jail because he’s a dictator who wants to have political control.
The word that best describes what he wants is one that he’s used, which is that he wants Saudi Arabia to be a normal country. In the sense of the political system, he wants it to be a normal authoritarian country, i.e., a place where people can enjoy some amount of social freedom. And, on that score, he has really changed the country dramatically. I mean, not just the women driving and the women’s rights, but the availability of public entertainment, the mixing of the genders in public places, and the access women have to job opportunities in the public sphere. He thinks of that as a more normal country, and I think most Americans would probably think of that as a more normal country, but he has absolutely no desire to change the political system. In fact, he wants to recentralize power not just in the ruling family but in him personally within the family.
That’s been a big change. For decades, Saudi Arabia was basically run as a committee system, a committee of senior princes that had to sign on to anything important that was happening, and it had all the defects of committees. It was stodgy, it didn’t seize opportunities. But it had the virtue of committees, too, which is to say that they didn’t do anything spectacularly dumb. He has changed that committee system to an individual system, so sometimes they do dumb things, and he did a number of dumb things early on in the period in which he was the main decision-maker, including the war in Yemen, the blockade of Qatar, which was meant to end its support for Islamist groups, and the kidnapping of the Lebanese Prime Minister. This was a misbegotten effort to create a crisis in Lebanon, which M.B.S. thought would harm Hezbollah, but actually harmed Hezbollah’s opponents, such as the Lebanese Prime Minister himself, Saad Hariri. And the Jamal Khashoggi killing, as well. There’s been some learning from that. He’s been much more cautious on the foreign-policy scene, and I think that, with his consolidation of power, he’s not about to give that up for some kind of democratic reform.
It’s a nice time for him in that sense because he isn’t going to get many lectures about democratic reform.
From this Administration, no. He’s certainly not going to get any lectures. I think this trip is kind of a personal triumph for him. If he had come five years ago, nobody would have been talking to him.
You mentioned his foreign policy, and it seemed in the early years that he was meddling in Lebanon and Yemen and Qatar, and there was also a very aggressive posture toward the Iranians. How do you see the posture in the region now, and what have you made of the way he’s dealt with Gaza? My sense is that it seems like he’d probably love to have some sort of deal with Israel, but knows that he can’t get too far ahead of the Saudi population, which I imagine is not pleased about Israel’s conduct in Gaza.
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Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Begin Visit Packed With Deals
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WASHINGTON—President Trump on Tuesday welcomed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman back to the White House for the first time since 2018, kicking off a two-day engagement to announce economic and defense deals.
MBS, as the royal is commonly known, was greeted by Trump at the South Portico flanked by senior Saudi and U.S. officials. American troops rode horses and carried the flags of both nations before drums rolled and trumpets blared as the crown prince’s limousine rolled up to where Trump awaited with an outstretched hand. They stood to watch a formation of six jet fighters, three F-35s and three F-15s, before going inside to start their meetings.
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US, Saudi Deals Expected on Defense, Nuclear Energy, AI – Senior US Administration Official
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States and Saudi Arabia were expected to announce deals on Tuesday that include defense sales, cooperation on civil nuclear energy and a multibillion dollar investment in U.S. AI infrastructure, a senior administration official said.
Fulfillments of the Saudi’s $600 billion investment pledge were also expected to be announced as President Donald Trump hosts Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House, the U.S. official said.
(Reporting by Steve Holland; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Katharine Jackson)
Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.
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Trump has elaborate welcome planned for MBS during Saudi crown prince’s White House visit
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President Trump has a warm and elaborate welcome planned for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, at the White House Tuesday, signaling his administration’s close ties to the Saudi kingdom as the president aims to lock in major business and national security deals.
Ahead of bin Salman’s arrival, the president told reporters Monday that the U.S. would sell F-35 fighter jets to the Saudis.
The White House has prepared an arrival ceremony laden with fanfare for the crown prince, complete with cannons and U.S. and Saudi flags draped on buildings. The U.S. military will conduct an aircraft flyover over the White House during MBS’ arrival.
There will also be a black-tie dinner with bin Salman. There are 120 invited guests, according to a person familiar with the planning, and 30 will be from the Saudi delegation. Although it’s not a state dinner, it is the first formal dinner hosted by Mr. Trump in his second term to honor a nation’s leader. Bin Salman’s father, Salman bin Abdulaziz, is technically the head of state of the kingdom, but he delegated his duties as ruler to MBS in 2017.
“We’re more than meeting,” Mr. Trump said Friday of the visit. “We’re honoring Saudi Arabia.”
A senior administration official said the president will be making announcements regarding Saudi investment in U.S. AI infrastructure, enhanced cooperation on civil nuclear energy, defense sales and the fulfillment of the Saudis’ $600 billion investment pledge, which was announced during the president’s trip to Saudi Arabia in May.
The White House visit is also expected to include an Oval Office meeting and lunch, similar to meetings the president has held with other world leaders in recent weeks.
White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly called the trip “an official working visit” in a statement and said, “Americans can expect more good deals for our country spanning technology, manufacturing, critical minerals, defense, and more.”
Mr. Trump is also planning to attend a Saudi business summit in Washington, D.C., Wednesday. An invitation previously obtained by CBS News said the 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.
Mr. Trump and his son-in-law and former top White House adviser Jared Kushner have fostered close relationships with the Saudis and the crown prince in particular, viewing them as critical partners for both security and business in a turbulent Middle East. The president said the Abraham Accords — an agreement from his first term that normalized diplomatic relations between Israel, Bahrain and the UAE — would be a big topic of discussion during the visit.
“The Abraham Accords will be a part we’re going to be discussing,” Mr. Trump said over the weekend. “I hope that Saudi Arabia will be going into the Abraham Accords fairly shortly. We’ve had tremendous interest in the Abraham Accords since we put Iran out of business.”
Mr. Trump recently told “60 Minutes” contributing correspondent Norah O’Donnell that he thought bin Salman would join the agreement, although the Saudis have indicated that would not happen without a path to Palestinian statehood.
The Trumps also have extensive and longheld personal business ties in Saudi Arabia. Last year, the Trump Organization announced plans for the development of a Trump Tower in Jeddah, a major Saudi city along the Red Sea.
Eric Trump, the president’s son and the executive vice president of the Trump Organization, told Reuters that the Trump Organization also has plans for a Trump-branded property in Riyadh.
And Kushner started a private equity firm, Affinity Partners, which received a reported $2 billion investment from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund controlled by bin Salman.
The trip to the White House visit is the crown prince’s first U.S. visit since Washington Post journalist and human rights activist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in 2018 in a Saudi consulate in Istanbul by members of the Saudi government. The president has smoothed over relations with the Saudis since the CIA assessed about a month after Khashoggi’s killing that the crown prince had ordered it. Bin Salman has denied any involvement, but he told O’Donnell in a 2019 “60 Minutes” interview that he took responsibility for Khashoggi’s death.
“I take full responsibility as a leader in Saudi Arabia, especially since it was committed by individuals working for the Saudi government,” he told O’Donnell.
The Biden administration later released the Trump-era intelligence report concluding the crown prince “approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey, to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.”
Mr. Trump did not seek to punish bin Salman personally during his first administration and said he viewed Saudi Arabia as a “great ally,” noting the economic ties between the U.S. and the Saudis. The Trump administration did sanction 19 Saudi nationals over the killing.
“Our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be that the crown prince had knowledge of this tragic event — maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!” Mr. Trump posted on social media in November 2018.
“That being said, we may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi. In any case, our relationship is with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They have been a great ally in our very important fight against Iran.”
Human rights advocates are dismayed about the treatment bin Salman is expected to receive in Washington, not only because of Khashoggi’s murder, but also because of Saudi Arabia’s human rights record under bin Salman.
“We know President Trump won’t ask MBS to reveal where Jamal’s remains are so his family can finally bury him,” said Raed Jarrar, advocacy director at Democracy for the Arab World Now, an organization Khashoggi founded months before he was killed. “But the least he can do — the absolute minimum — is publicly press MBS to release the dozens of activists, writers and reformers languishing in Saudi prisons for the ‘crime’ of speaking freely.”
Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director at DAWN, called bin Salman’s journey from castigation over Khashoggi’s murder to a high-profile White House welcome an “extraordinary political feat.” And that’s not just because of Mr. Trump’s gestures of friendship toward the crown prince. Whitson mentioned the “fist bump seen around the world,” as former President Joe Biden warmly greeted Khashoggi in Riyadh during his presidency “hat in hand.”
“We went from the Biden administration narrowly sanctioning Mohamamd bin Salman himself for the murder of Khashoggi … to now welcoming him into Washington and not only sort of feting him for whatever lucrative deals he can pass to American businesses, but also to potentially actually help as a stabilizing force,” Whitson said.
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Trump Says U.S. Intends to Sell F-35 Jet Fighters to Saudi Arabia
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The announcement underscored the rehabilitation of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ahead of a White House meeting Tuesday with the president.
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Michael R. Gordon
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Trump Likely to Sell F-35 Fighters to Saudis, Bloomberg News Reports
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-U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to reach a deal with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman allowing Riyadh to acquire F-35 stealth fighter jets, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing a White House official.
Trump and the crown prince plan to sign economic and defense agreements during a visit to the White House scheduled for Tuesday, the report added.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
(Reporting by Bipasha Dey in Bengaluru)
Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.
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US Officials Raise Concerns Over Saudi Arabia’s Bid for F-35 Jets, the New York Times Reports
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A Pentagon intelligence report raises concerns over Saudi Arabia’s bid to buy F-35 jets from the United States, warning that China could acquire the aircraft’s technology if the sale proceeds, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the assessment.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward; Writing by Katharine Jackson)
Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.
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Saudis to host investment summit in DC’s Kennedy Center during crown prince’s visit, sources say – WTOP News
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An invitation obtained by CBS News says 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.
President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman gesture as they meet delegations at the Royal Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)(AP/Alex Brandon) Saudi Arabia is planning to host a U.S.-Saudi investment summit Nov. 19 in Washington during Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit with President Trump, multiple sources tell CBS News.
The crown prince is set to visit the White House on Nov. 18, part of a long-planned trip to follow up on investment announcements made last May when Mr. Trump visited Saudi Arabia, the sources said.
The White House visit is expected to include an Oval Office meeting and lunch, similar to the meetings the president has held with other world leaders in recent weeks. But the White House is also preparing for a black-tie dinner on the evening of Nov. 18 to fete bin Salman.
An invitation obtained by CBS News says 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,” the invitation says.
The event is seen as a follow-up to the $600 billion in Saudi investment bin Salman first announced in February, including what the White House said was the largest defense salein history. In May, Mr. Trump brought a number of high-profile business leaders with him to Saudi Arabia, including Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Palantir’s Alex Karp, Citigroup’s Jane Fraser, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Franklin Templeton Investments’ Jenny Johnson, Uber’s Dara Khosrowshahi, BDT & MSD Partners’ Dina Powell McCormick and Blackstone’s Steve Schwarzman.
It was not immediately clear who’s been invited to the Nov. 19 summit in Washington, or who plans to attend.
One source said some of the deals first announced in May could be finalized during bin Salman’s Washington visit, since they’ve now cleared the required review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., which must vet larger global transactions.
The president and his family maintain personal business ties to Saudi Arabia. Last year, the Trump Organization announced plans for the development of a Trump Tower in Jeddah, a major Saudi city along the Red Sea. Eric Trump, the president’s son and the executive vice president of the Trump Organization, told Reuters that the Trump Organization also has plans for a Trump-branded property in Riyadh. And the president’s son-in-law and former top White House adviser, Jared Kushner, started a private equity firm, Affinity Partners, which received a reported $2 billion investment from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund controlled by bin Salman.
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Exclusive-Saudi Arabia’s Request to Buy F-35 Jets Clears Key Pentagon Hurdle, Sources Say
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Trump administration is considering a Saudi Arabian request to buy as many as 48 F-35 fighter jets, a potential multi-billion-dollar deal that has cleared a key Pentagon hurdle ahead of a visit by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, two sources familiar with the matter said.
A sale would mark a significant policy shift, potentially altering the military balance in the Middle East and testing Washington’s definition of maintaining Israel’s “qualitative military edge.”
Saudi Arabia made a direct appeal earlier this year to U.S. President Donald Trump and has long been interested in Lockheed Martin’s fighter, one of the people and a U.S. official said. The Pentagon is now weighing a potential sale of 48 of the advanced aircraft, the U.S. official and the person familiar with the talks told Reuters. The size of the request and its status have not been previously reported.
The U.S. official and a second U.S. official, who acknowledged the weapons deal was moving through the system, said no final decision has been made and several more steps are needed before the ultimate nod, including further approvals at the Cabinet level, sign-off from Trump and notification of Congress.
The Pentagon’s policy department worked on the potential transaction for months, and the case has now progressed to the secretary level within the Defense Department, according to one of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Pentagon, White House and State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A Lockheed Martin spokesperson said military sales are government-to-government transactions and the matter is best addressed by Washington.
Washington weighs weapons sales to the Middle East in a way that ensures Israel maintains a “qualitative military edge”. This guarantees that Israel gets more advanced U.S. weapons than regional Arab states.
The F-35, built with stealth technology that allows it to evade enemy detection, is considered the world’s most advanced fighter jet. Israel has operated the aircraft for nearly a decade, building multiple squadrons, and remains the only Middle Eastern country to possess the weapons system.
Saudi Arabia, the largest customer for U.S. arms, has sought the fighter for years as it looks to modernize its air force and counter regional threats, particularly from Iran. The kingdom’s renewed push for what would constitute two squadrons comes as the Trump administration has signaled openness to deepening defense cooperation with Riyadh. The Saudi Air Force flies a mix of fighter aircraft including Boeing F-15s, European Tornados and Typhoons.
The F-35 issue has also been intertwined with broader diplomatic efforts. The Biden administration previously explored providing F-35s to Saudi Arabia as part of a comprehensive deal that would have included Riyadh normalizing relations with Israel, though those efforts ultimately stalled.
Trump has made arms sales to Saudi Arabia a priority since returning to office. In May, the United States agreed to sell the kingdom an arms package worth nearly $142 billion, which the White House called “the largest defense cooperation agreement” Washington has ever done.
Congressional scrutiny could also pose challenges to any F-35 sale. Lawmakers previously questioned arms deals with Riyadh following the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and some members of Congress remain wary of deepening military cooperation with the kingdom.
The potential sale also comes as Saudi Arabia pursues ambitious economic and military modernization plans under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 agenda. The kingdom has sought to diversify its defense partnerships in recent years while maintaining its decades-long security relationship with Washington.
(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; Editing by Chris Sanders and Lisa Shumaker)
Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.
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US Backs Repeal of Caesar Act Sanctions on Syria, State Department Says
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(Reuters) -A U.S. State Department spokesperson said the Trump administration supports repealing the Caesar Act sanctions on Syria through the National Defense Authorization Act bill, which is being discussed by U.S. lawmakers at the moment.
“The United States is in regular communication with regional partners and welcomes any investment or engagement in Syria that supports the chance for all Syrians to have a peaceful and prosperous country,” the spokesperson said.
(Reporting by Timour Azhari;Editing by Alison Williams)
Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.
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The IOC and Saudi Arabia call it quits on their Olympic esports partnership
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The esports partnership between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Saudi Arabia is no more. On Thursday, the IOC said that it and the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee (SOPC) have “mutually agreed” to part ways. The breakup comes weeks after Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and other investors bought EA for $55 billion.
The IOC and SOPC agreed on a 12-year esports partnership in 2024. At the time, the IOC was reportedly in talks with publishers of Rocket League, Street Fighter and League of Legends. The two sides discussed holding the Olympic Esports Games every two years. (The first games were initially scheduled for this year, but were pushed back to 2027.) Potential hosts for later installments were said to include South Korea and the US.
Instead, the two sides are now “committed to pursuing their own esports ambitions on separate paths,” according to the IOC. The organization now plans to “spread the opportunities presented by the Olympic Esports Games more widely.” It still wants the inaugural games to happen “as soon as possible.”
The AP notes that the dissolution comes seven months into Kristy Coventry’s IOC presidency. We don’t know the details of how the deal came apart. However, the IOC wants to connect with younger fans through esports, but in a way that “Olympic values are respected.” Saudi Arabia’s Esports World Cup features MOBAs, shooters and fighting games.
If the IOC wants to project a squeaky-clean image while connecting with young gamers, it may have an uphill battle. (For the record, games don’t lead to violence.)
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Will Shanklin
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Saudi Arabia Assumes Chairmanship of INTOSAI
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SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, October 31, 2025 (Newswire.com)
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Today, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia solidified its global leadership in public financial auditing and accounting by winning the chairmanship of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI). The announcement was made during the 25th General Assembly of INTOSAI, held in Sharm El-Sheikh under the patronage of His Excellency President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi of the Arab Republic of Egypt.The General Assembly declared Saudi Arabia, represented by the General Court of Audit (GCA), as the Chair of INTOSAI starting in 2031 for a three-year term. Saudi Arabia will host delegations from over 195 countries, led by the heads of Supreme Audit Institutions, assuming leadership of the world’s foremost organization in financial and performance auditing. This role positions Saudi Arabia to steer global efforts in enhancing transparency, public sector governance, and government performance, while reinforcing public trust in national economies.
On this occasion, His Excellency Dr. Hussam Alangari, President GCA, extended his congratulations to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, acknowledging their unwavering support and empowerment of GCA. He emphasized that this achievement reflects the Kingdom’s international standing and global trust, enabling it to play a pivotal role in advancing auditing and accountability worldwide. Dr. Alangari highlighted the transformative developments in organizational independence, technical and human capacity, and methodological innovation that have enabled GCA to achieve its vision of impactful audit, public sector effectiveness, and quality of life for citizens. He added: “Saudi Arabia welcomes the world in 2031, and we look forward to hosting everyone in Riyadh to shape a global future that promotes transparency, governance, and governmental effectiveness.”
This milestone crowns decades of international engagement led by Saudi Arabia through GCA, starting with its early membership in INTOSAI in 1977. Saudi Arabia has consistently taken leadership roles in international and regional organizations, including serving as Chair of the Arab Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (ARABOSAI) for two consecutive terms since 2022, and the upcoming Chair of the Asian Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) starting in 2027. GCA has also led numerous INTOSAI committees and initiatives focused on capacity building and enhancing the efficiency of peer SAIs in developing countries, reflecting the Saudi Arabia commitment to advancing auditing and accountability globally.
Founded over seventy years ago, INTOSAI is the largest and most prestigious international organization uniting Supreme Audit Institutions worldwide. Today, it comprises over 195 member countries, each represented by its Supreme Audit Institution, working to enhance transparency, governance, and public sector auditing, with the ultimate goal of improving citizens’ lives around the world.
Source: General Court of Audit
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Indian posts stoke religious divisions with misrepresented UAE national day video
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Suggestions that fireworks to mark Diwali may have contributed to soaring air pollution in India’s capital are being dismissed online as complaints from “fake” Muslims, with social media posts piling on by falsely claiming an old video shows “real Muslims” celebrating the Hindu festival of lights in Saudi Arabia. The video in fact shows celebrations for the UAE’s national day in December 2023.
“In Saudi Arabia, real Muslims are celebrating Diwali with great enthusiasm, bursting firecrackers; meanwhile in India, fake ones are fuming about Diwali firecrackers,” reads the caption of a Facebook video shared on October 21, 2025.
The video, which has been viewed more than 32,000 times, shows groups of people on the street watching an elaborate fireworks display.
It circulated as Diwali celebrations were linked to the Indian capital’s air pollution crisis — a link Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa pushed back against and described to the Asian News International (ANI) news agency as a politically motivated attempt to ban Hindu religious practices (archived link).
The link has also been rejected online, with people making the association labelled as anti-Hindu or Muslim.
According to monitoring organisation IQAir, toxic air in the Indian capital Delhi did spike following the Diwali celebrations — hitting more than 56 times the UN health limit just after the peak of the bursting fireworks early on October 21 (archived link).
Screenshot of the false Facebook post captured on October 31, 2025, with a red X added by AFP
The video was also shared in similar Facebook, Instagram, Threads and X posts, with comments indicating users believed it showed a Diwali celebration in Saudi Arabia.
“How wonderful Diwali is celebrated in Saudi Arabia but Muslims in India hate Diwali,” read one such comment.
But the video in fact shows a celebration of the United Arab Emirates’ national day in Abu Dhabi.
Abu Dhabi fireworks
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to the same clip posted on YouTube on December 3, 2023 (archived link).
Its caption reads, “UAE 52 National Day Celebration 2023”.
Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (left) and the December 2023 YouTube video (right)
An analysis of the video by an AFP journalist reporting on the Middle East also uncovered other elements indicating the video was filmed in the United Arab Emirates, including a photo of the country’s President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on a car and a falcon emblem — a symbol of the country — above the number “52” on a lamp post.
Screenshot of falsely shared video, with the UAE president’s photo, a falcon emblem and the number “52” highlighted by AFP
Subsequent keyword searches led to a statement about the installation of decorative pieces by Abu Dhabi City Municipality to celebrate the United Arab Emirates’ 52nd Union Day on December 2, 2023 (archived link).
Screenshot of the statement on the Abu Dhabi City Municipality website
According to the statement, the decorations were placed along notable locations, including “Abu Dhabi Corniche Street”.
Street level imagery available on the KartaView platform shows the falsely shared video corresponds to the intersection of Corniche Street and Mubarak Bin Mohammed Street in Abu Dhabi (archived link).
Screenshot of the video in the false post (L) and Street level imagery available on the KartaView platform, similarities highlighted by AFP
AFP has repeatedly debunked anti-Muslim misinformation circulating in India.
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WTO Chief Calls for Reform of Consensus Rule Amid Trade Disruption
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(Reuters) -The head of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Tuesday called for reforms of the 30-year-old institution, highlighting its consensus rule that requires unanimous agreement among members to secure global trade deals.
“We need to reform the system, we cannot be complacent,” WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh.
“We need to reform some of the ways we do business like our consensus decision-making system which is practised as unanimity – everyone has to agree – so it really slows down decision making,” she said.
She also urged the WTO’s 166 members to engage with the United States on its criticisms of the watchdog, many of which she acknowledged as valid.
Okonjo-Iweala repeated that the global trading system was undergoing the biggest disruption in eight decades, describing it as “battered but not broken”.
She hailed the fact that more of its members had not resorted to retaliatory measures in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on trading partners.
“The fact that almost three-quarters of world goods trade is still going on on WTO terms is amazing,” she said.
(Reporting by Emma Farge, Editing by Friederike Heine, Kirsti Knolle)
Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.
Photos You Should See – Oct. 2025
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Putin Says Russia Will Never Bow to U.S. Pressure
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MOSCOW (Reuters) -President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia would never bow to pressure from the United States or any other country, and cautioned that the response to any strikes deep into Russia would be very serious and overwhelming.
U.S. sanctions are an “unfriendly” act and “will have certain consequences, but they will not significantly affect our economic well-being,” Putin said. Russia’s energy sector feels confident, he said.
“This is, of course, an attempt to put pressure on Russia,” Putin said. “But no self-respecting country and no self-respecting people ever decides anything under pressure.”
Putin said breaking the balance in the global energy markets could lead to a hike in prices that would be uncomfortable for countries such as the United States, especially given the internal political calendar in the United States.
Asked about a Wall Street Journal report that the Trump administration has lifted a key restriction on Ukraine’s use of some long-range missiles provided by Western allies, and remarks by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy about domestic missiles with a range of 3,000 km (1,900 miles), Putin said: “This is an attempt at escalation.”
“But if such weapons are used to attack Russian territory, the response will be very serious, if not overwhelming. Let them think about it,” Putin said.
(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.
Photos You Should See – Oct. 2025
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