Overview
- Saudi Arabia is negotiating a defense agreement with the United States that Riyadh hopes to sign during Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to the White House next month, according to the Financial Times.
- A senior Trump administration official confirmed there are discussions about signing during the visit but said the details remain in flux.
- Reporting describes the prospective pact as modeled on last month’s U.S.–Qatar arrangement that treats an armed attack on Qatar as a threat to U.S. security following Israel’s strike in Doha.
- The State Department called U.S.–Saudi defense cooperation a “strong bedrock” of regional strategy while declining specifics, and Reuters said the White House and Saudi officials did not respond to requests for comment.
- Riyadh’s talks come weeks after it signed a mutual defense pact with Pakistan, and if concluded the U.S.–Saudi deal could broaden American security commitments in the Gulf.