Trump administration reviewing Israel's 'military edge' as it eyes Gulf arms deals, sources say Submitted by Sean Mathews on Tue, 12/23/2025 - 19:01 Senior official from Bureau of Political-Military Affairs traveled to Israel last week, as members of Congress briefed on talks US President Donald Trump welcomes Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia at the White House on 18 November 2025 (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images/AFP) Off The Trump administration is reviewing Israel's Qualitative Military Edge (QME) as it eyes potential major arms sales to Saudi Arabia and Qatar that Israel fears could upset the military balance of power in the Middle East, a US and Arab official told Middle East Eye. The discussions over QME in relation to defence deals with the Gulf states have occurred in recent weeks, MEE has learned. Senior US military officials have held several closely guarded meetings on Capitol Hill with members of Congress on the potential defence deals, the Arab and US officials told MEE. In addition, a senior State Department official visited Israel last week, in part, to address Israeli concerns, MEE can reveal. The US official who spoke with MEE said the administration is likely preparing points before the end of the year, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet with US President Donald Trump. Netanyahu is expected to arrive in Florida on 29 December, according to media reports. The Arab official confirmed the administration was reviewing QME as part of its arms sales discussions with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, but was sceptical that any new understanding would be reached before the end of the year. The State Department did not respond to MEE's request for comment by the time of publication. The discussions on Capitol Hill have included members of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Armed Services Committee, the US and Arab officials told MEE. Meanwhile, the senior official for the State Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, which oversees arms sales, visited Israel last week for discussions that included QME, the US official told MEE. US Senator Lindsey Graham also met with Netanyahu on Sunday. In his public remarks, Graham did not discuss military sales but said he was briefed on Hamas and Hezbollah rearming, along with Iran's ballistic missile programme. Congress and Gulf arms deals The Trump administration is eyeing two big-ticket arms sales to Qatar and Saudi Arabia, according to public statements and media reports. Trump confirmed in a November meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that his administration would sell F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia. The US leader said publicly that Israel was lobbying him to sell the kingdom less-advanced F-35s than those in Israel's arsenal. "I know they [Israel] would like you [Saudi Arabia] to get planes of reduced calibre. I don't think that makes you too happy,” Trump said, addressing the crown prince. "I think they [Saudi Arabia and Israel] are both at a level where they should get top of the line." Qatar in talks with US about buying F-35 warplanes: Report Read More » Last week, Israel's Channel 12 news reported that the US and Qatar were in discussions about an F-35 sale. The report said that Israel was concerned that a flood of arms sales to Arab states could erode its Qualitative Military Edge. The Trump administration is still working on a US-Saudi defence deal that current and former US officials told MEE is likely to unlock faster transactions for more sophisticated military gear. The agreement has yet to be signed by US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth. The work on it has been kept quiet as the Trump administration looks to bring lawmakers on board, a Western official told MEE. The Trump administration's move to brief lawmakers on deals with Saudi Arabia and Qatar is notable for a White House that has consolidated decision-making to include only a close circle of the president's advisers. Trump himself has sidelined the legislative branch on military matters, like strikes on Venezuela, saying that members of Congress "leak like a sieve". But to get any future arms sale over the finish line, Trump would likely need the support of Republican and Democratic lawmakers in each chamber's foreign relations committee. According to longstanding convention, the chair or ranking member of either Senate or House committee can place an informal hold on arms sales after they are alerted by the administration through informal notification. That opposition has a practical impact on arms sales. For example, in 2024, the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee initially blocked the sale of F-15 fighter jets to Israel, preventing the administration from formally notifying lawmakers of the sale. Israel's 'Edge' Israel attacked Qatar in September when it launched strikes on Hamas negotiators in Doha. Netanyahu has also made no secret of the fact that he opposes selling advanced F-35s to Saudi Arabia. "I had a long conversation with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who reiterated his commitment that the United States will continue to preserve Israel's qualitative military edge in everything related to supplying weapons and military systems to countries in the Middle East," Netanyahu said in a Hebrew-language interview in November widely circulated on X. Netanyahu says Rubio assured him Saudi Arabia will not receive F-35s on par with Israel Read More » The concept of an Israeli "qualitative edge" in military gear goes back to the Cold War. In 1979, the US brokered a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, then the Arab world's dominant military power, alongside the Shah's Iran. Egypt's peace with Israel was underwritten by the promise of US military aid, which Israel wanted to ensure was inferior to the weapons it received. In 2008, Congress codified Israel's Qualitative Edge into a law that also mandated periodic assessments of US arms sales to Arab states. The F-35 can be downgraded or upgraded based on packages like radar and stealth features, similar to how buyers can purchase different trim levels of a car. Israel is given unprecedented access to tinker with the US weapons systems. Israel modified its version of the warplane, the F-35I Adir, to carry external fuel compartments without compromising on its stealthy features, MEE reported . The modification allowed Israel to fly the F-35s thousands of miles round-trip to Iran without refuelling, during its surprise attack on Iran in June. Diplomacy News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0