US President Donald Trump announced Tuesday evening that Saudi Arabia will be formally designated as a major non-NATO ally of the United States.
The declaration was made during a gala dinner at the White House in honor of visiting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
“Tonight, I'm pleased to announce that we're taking our military cooperation to even greater heights by formally designating Saudi Arabia as a major non-NATO ally, which is something that is very important to them,” Trump said.
The President added, “And I'm just telling you now for the first time, because they wanted to keep a little secret for tonight,” referring to the timing of the announcement.
Saudi Arabia joins a select group of only 19 countries that have previously received this designation, which grants special military and strategic privileges in cooperation with the United States.
The announcement follows Trump’s earlier meeting at the White House with the Saudi Crown Prince.
Following the meeting, the White House announced that the two leaders finalized a sweeping series of agreements that significantly deepen the US-Saudi strategic partnership.
The deals include “future F-35 fighter jet deliveries to Saudi Arabia,” which Israel has spoken out against, due to the fact that it could harm Israel's air superiority in the Middle East.
During the meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince, Trump was asked if the F-35s that will be sold to Saudi Arabia will be the same as those used by Israel and responded, "I think they will be pretty similar, yeah."
Trump added that Saudi Arabia "is a great ally, and Israel is a great ally. I know they'd [Israel] want you to get planes of reduced caliber. I don't think that makes you too happy."
He added that he believes both Israel and Saudi Arabia "are at a level where they should get top-of-the-line" aircraft.