United Arab Emirates (UAE) Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash said that while his nation's request to buy advanced F-35 fighter jets from the United States predates the peace agreement with Israel which was announced a week ago, but the agreement will make it easier for the Emirates to purchase the aircraft.
“The F-35, the UAE has already indicated that it wants the F-35 six years ago. It’s already on the table. We have legitimate requests that are there, and we ought to get them. This is not, in my opinion, we ought to get them and the whole idea of a state of belligerency or war with Israel, so I think it should actually be easier. But the F-35, as I’ve said, is a request that we made six years ago,” Gargash said in an interview with the Washington-based Atlantic Council Thursday.
"I do not know to what extent this [Israeli concern] stems from Israeli domestic politics," he said of the Israeli government's opposition to the UAE purchasing F-35 aircraft.
Intellitimes reported Thursday that the concern is not that the UAE would use the F-35 against Israel, but that its possession of the aircraft could limit Israel's ability to operate against Iran. (Read More)
