The US is preparing to announce a major arms sales package exceeding $100 billion during Donald Trump’s planned visit to Saudi Arabia in May. This expected visit could serve as the platform for Washington to unveil a comprehensive arms sales package for Riyadh. Six sources familiar with the matter, who spoke to Reuters, indicated that the announcement of the proposal is scheduled to coincide with this trip.

The proposed deal reportedly follows the Biden administration’s unsuccessful attempt to forge defense cooperation with Saudi Arabia as part of a broader agreement aimed at normalizing Saudi-Israeli relations. The Biden administration had offered Saudi Arabia access to more advanced American weaponry in exchange for halting arms purchases from China and limiting Chinese investments. It remains unclear whether the Trump administration’s new proposal includes similar conditions.

During his first term, Trump characterized arms sales to Saudi Arabia as a strategic benefit for the US economy and job creation. The new proposal is said to include advanced defense equipment such as Lockheed Martin’s C-130 transport aircraft, missile systems, and radar systems. Major American defense contractors, including RTX (formerly Raytheon Technologies), Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and General Atomics, are also expected to be part of the package.

Reuters was unable to confirm precisely how much of the proposed deals are new. However, two sources noted that some of these agreements have been under discussion for a considerable time. For instance, Saudi Arabia reportedly first expressed interest in General Atomics’ unmanned aerial vehicles in 2018. According to one source, a $20 billion deal involving General Atomics’ MQ-9B SeaGuardian UAVs and other aircraft has gained prominence over the past 12 months.

US arms sales to Saudi Arabia are not a recent development. In 2017, Trump proposed a $110 billion package. However, following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018, Congress largely opposed these agreements. The Biden administration, in 2021, suspended the sale of offensive weapons due to both the Khashoggi murder and civilian casualties in Yemen.

Nevertheless, the energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 led to a shift in the US approach towards Saudi Arabia. By 2024, the suspension was lifted, and Washington began pursuing closer cooperation with Saudi Arabia on the future of Gaza after the October 7 Hamas attack.

Three separate sources suggested that Lockheed Martin-produced F-35 fighter jets, which Saudi Arabia has long been interested in, might also be discussed during the visit. However, these same sources emphasized that the signing of a direct F-35 deal during this specific visit is considered unlikely.

The US maintains its “Qualitative Military Edge” (QME) policy, which ensures that Israel receives more advanced American weapons than Arab nations. Israel has operated F-35 jets for nine years and has established numerous squadrons during this period.

The UAE model prohibits the domestic production of enriched uranium needed for nuclear facilities while permitting its import.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that the US could allow Iran to operate civilian nuclear reactors but opposed its enrichment of its own uranium, ahead of the third round of indirect negotiations between Washington and Tehran this weekend.

Appearing on a podcast program published in The Free Press, Rubio said that Iran, like the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and some other countries, could import low-enriched uranium for civilian purposes.

Rubio stated, “If Iran wants a civilian nuclear program, they can do it like many other countries; that is, they import enriched uranium. If they really want this, there is a path to a peaceful, civilian nuclear program. But if they insist on enriching uranium, they would be the only country without a nuclear weapons program that enriches uranium, which creates a problem.”

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), this proposal represents a significant step back from the demand for “complete termination of the nuclear program” voiced last month by National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. According to Rubio’s statements, Iran would be able to continue operating its nuclear reactors, but the path to nuclear weapons production would be blocked by the prohibition on uranium enrichment.

This proposal could also put the US at odds with Israel, which insists on the “Libya model” that envisions the complete termination of Iran’s nuclear program.

Although the US proposal grants Iran the right to a “civilian nuclear program,” it also foresees Iran becoming dependent on external sources for nuclear fuel. This could mean a political and strategic step back for Tehran.

Ali Shamkhani, a senior advisor to Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, rejected this proposal during talks in Rome, explicitly stating that they did not accept the “UAE model.” The UAE imports uranium instead of enriching it domestically to provide assurance that its nuclear program will remain civilian.

According to Seyyed Hossein Mousavian, a former Iranian official and nuclear policy expert at Princeton University, Tehran was ready to accept importing enriched uranium in the 1980s and early 1990s if the US allowed European countries to provide the fuel, but Washington rejected this offer.

Richard Nephew, who served as a negotiator in the Obama and Biden administrations, said that similar ideas were discussed during the process leading to the 2015 agreement, but Iran always maintained its desire to produce its own fuel and did not trust imports. Nephew told the WSJ, “Joint ventures and international nuclear fuel supply issues have been discussed for decades. But the issue always comes back to the same point: Iran does not trust that the fuel will be provided to them on time.”

According to Gary Samore, head of the Middle East Studies Center at Brandeis University, it is highly unlikely that Iran will completely abandon its uranium enrichment program. In this case, he argued, the Trump administration would either have to accept limited enrichment under strict inspection mechanisms or consider the military option.

Under the 2015 nuclear agreement, Iran had agreed to limit its uranium enrichment rate to 3.67% until 2031. However, after the US withdrew from this agreement in 2018, encouraged by Israel, it is stated that Iran is currently enriching uranium up to 60%. Uranium used in weapons needs to be enriched to at least 90%.

Iran is currently reported to possess enough highly enriched uranium to produce at least six nuclear bombs.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned against renewed attempts to return NATO military infrastructure to Afghanistan, saying such actions could become a dangerous source of future conflict.

According to Russian media, Lavrov in a press conference in Samarkand, Uzbekistan said that Western countries have launched a new format of consultations in Doha through the United Nations.

“The attempt to return the military infrastructure of NATO countries to Afghanistan under various pretexts is unacceptable, and such efforts are underway,” he added.

“We are witnessing the West actively trying to re-enter the Afghanistan game, a game it left after the Taliban returned. We have no problem with this, but the West presence should be fair and without hidden agendas,” Lavrov added.

He said that these efforts will create a new “time bomb,” and perhaps not even a “slow bomb”, he added.

He has said that Moscow is closely monitoring Western efforts to “influence Central Asia and other strategic regions.”

Lavrov furthered, “We are resolutely opposed to the politicization of cooperation and the imposition of ideological programs, especially the attempts of some Western countries to dominate this and other geopolitical spaces.”

This comes when the Taliban Foreign Ministry also said that Russia has agreed to accept Taliban’s diplomat at the ambassadorial level.