U.S. will sell Saudi Arabia advanced F-35 fighter jets, Trump says

President Trump said Monday that he will approve the sale of F-35s to Saudi Arabia, making the kingdom the first country in the Middle East other than Israel to obtain the advanced fighter jets.Why it matters: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) is expected to meet Trump at the White House on Tuesday. The F-35 deal, a U.S.-Saudi security agreement and possible normalization with Israel will be on the agenda.What he's saying: "They want to buy. They are a great ally. We will be doing that. We will be selling them F-35s," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. The big picture: The U.S. sells the F-35 primarily to formal military allies, such as NATO members or Japan. Israel is the only country in the Middle East that currently has them.The supply of F-35s to Saudi Arabia would change the military balance in the region and affect Israel's qualitative military edge (QME), which administrations of both parties have worked to maintain.Congress officially codified the U.S. commitment to Israel's QME into law in 2008.Congress would have to review a potential F-35 deal, and could block it.State of play: Israel doesn't oppose Saudi Arabia getting F-35s, but asked the Trump administration to condition the sale on the kingdom normalizing relations with Israel."We told the Trump administration that the supply of F-35s to Saudi Arabia needs to be subject to Saudi normalization with Israel," one Israeli official said. The official added that the U.S. giving Saudi Arabia F-35s without getting any diplomatic deliverables in return would be "a mistake and counterproductive."Trump mentioned no such caveats in his remark on Monday. He has previously touted massive arms deals with the Gulf states as mutually beneficial.What to watch: Israel will likely ask for security guarantees from the U.S. if an F-35 deal goes through with Saudi Arabia. "It takes minutes for an F-35 to fly from Saudi Arabia to Israel," the official said.Israel will likely demand that any F-35s supplied to Saudi Arabia not be deployed to Saudi air force bases in the Western parts of the country.