Qatar to sign $12-bn deal for US F-15 jets amid Gulf crisis

F-15 sale highlights the complex position of US to find balance with business deals and anti-terrorism stand

Qatar will sign a deal to buy as many as 36 F-15 jets from the US as the two nations navigate tensions over President Donald Trump’s backing for a Saudi-led coalition’s move to isolate the country for supporting terrorism.

Qatari Defence Minister Khalid Al-Attiyah and his US counterpart, Jim Mattis, completed the $12 billion agreement on Wednesday in Washington, according to the Pentagon.
 

The sale “will give Qatar a state of the art capability and increase security cooperation and interoperability between the United States and Qatar,” the Defence Department said.

Congress last year approved a sale of as many as 72 F-15s in an agreement valued at as much as $21 billion, providing authorisation for the deal completed on Wednesday. But that was before Qatar’s neighbours, including Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, severed diplomatic, trade and transport links last week in a move they said was aimed at isolating the country for its support of terrorist groups and Iran.

The F-15 sale highlights the complex position the Trump administration finds itself in, forced to balance its focus on fighting terrorism against regional rivalries between key allies. Qatar hosts the regional headquarters for US Central Command, which includes a state-of-the-art air base the US depends on to target Islamic State. “It is confusing, and the worst thing you want to do in a heated, delicate situation like this is to give mixed messages,” Paul Sullivan, a Middle East specialist at Georgetown University, said.