U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that he is considering agreeing to a deal to supply Saudi Arabia with F-35 stealth fighter jets, which are made by Lockheed Martin.
"They wanna buy a lot of jets," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
"I'm looking at that. They've asked me to look at it. They want to buy a lot of '35' - but they want to buy actually more than that, fighter jets."
The potential sale comes as Trump plans to host Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House next week, when they are expected to sign economic and defence agreements.
Asked about the talks, Trump told reporters it was "more than meeting, we're honoring" Saudi Arabia.
He repeated that he hoped Saudi Arabia would soon join the Abraham Accords, which have normalised relations between Israel and Muslim-majority nations. Riyadh has resisted such a step, saying earlier this year that a deal would not be reached without a path to Palestinian statehood.
Prior to Israel's launch of its latest war on Gaza in October 2023, Riyadh was believed to be seeking a comprehensive security deal with Washington - among other demands - in return for Israel normalisation. Global outrage over Israel's war - considered a genocide by UN experts and leading rights groups - have complicated matters, with normalisation between the two states now looking like a distant prospect.
A Pentagon intelligence report has raised concerns over the potential F-35 deal, 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.