Saudi and U.S. officials touted billions of dollars in new investments and growing financial ties between the two countries, coinciding with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's visit to Washington
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (local time) announced that they are going to be "selling" Saudi Arabia some of the "greatest" military equipment "ever built", a day after officially designating the Kingdom as a "major non-NATO ally."
"... We officially designated the kingdom yesterday as a major non-NATO ally... That's a sign of trust. We signed a historic strategic defence agreement yesterday... We're going to be selling Saudi Arabia some of the greatest military equipment ever built. We build the best military equipment in the world by far. That's why we do the most business, including nearly 300 American-made tanks, which you're buying, many other things, the aeroplanes...," Trump said at the US-Saudi Investment Forum.
Donald Trump noted that the relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia has probably grown stronger after they "very quickly" "obliterated" the nuclear capability of Iran and likened it to a "real cloud over the whole Middle East".
"The partnership between our two nations is among the most consequential in the entire world and together the Crown Prince and I are making an alliance stronger and more powerful than ever before. We've had good relationships... And now it is and probably even better because we took the dark cloud away from your country. It was called Iran and its nuclear capability. We obliterated that very quickly and strongly... But that was a real cloud over the whole Middle East and now they wanna make a deal... We'll be doing that probably. But that was a terrible cloud that you had to live with for a long time; for 22 years, they were thinking about doing that. That was even before the B2s. The B2s were undetectable and they dropped their payload and every single bomb hit its exact mark, which was a shaft going deep into the mountain...and it was total obliteration... But they want to make a deal. We'll see what happens." Trump said.
He also mentioned some "groundbreaking" agreements signed by the two countries and expressed gratitude to the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia for "bringing all those jobs and great opportunities to our country"
"This week, our countries also signed groundbreaking agreements on civil nuclear energy, critical minerals, and artificial intelligence...That is in addition to the $600 billion investment in the United States that Saudi Arabia announced during my visit there last spring... Yesterday, the Crown Prince announced that they'll be investing in the US is $1 trillion... We're told that $270 billion in agreements and sales are being signed between dozens of companies... On behalf of the thousands of American workers, I want to thank you for bringing all those jobs and great opportunities to our country...,' Trump said.
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