Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman met Vice President JD Vance at the White House on Wednesday, July 29, a day after Riyadh joined U.S. forces in a joint operation against Iran-aligned groups in Iraq.
Axios, citing a source familiar with the meeting, said Khalid carried a message from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman: drone attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure crossed a red line, but Riyadh still seeks de-escalation with Iran. CENTCOM said the July 28 strikes hit logistics and weapons sites after more than 30 drone attacks in 72 hours against both countries’ targets. Iraqi militias denied launching them; Baghdad condemned the violation of its sovereignty.
The visit also comes as two separate arms tracks remain unresolved. Saudi Arabia’s request for up to 48 F-35s has cleared a key Pentagon hurdle, with Trump backing a sale in principle, but no formal notification confirms it. Riyadh is also weighing a lower-cost alternative: Reuters reported in January that it was discussing converting roughly $2 billion in Saudi loans to Pakistan into a purchase of JF-17 Thunder fighters, a lighter, Chinese-Pakistani-built jet Riyadh does not currently fly, in talks Reuters said reflect Saudi efforts “to hedge against uncertainty about U.S. commitments in the Middle East.” The current status of those talks is not publicly established.
The fighter-jet question sits alongside a separate, higher-stakes file: nuclear cooperation. Washington and Riyadh signed a civilian nuclear-cooperation agreement on July 22. The Associated Press reported that it could eventually permit a Saudi enrichment facility after a joint study, but Trump subsequently said the agreement allowed no enrichment and tied its approval to Riyadh joining the Abraham Accords, the 2020 U.S.-brokered framework under which the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan normalized relations with Israel.
