November 18, 2025
The following are excerpts from an Oval Office press conference President Donald Trump held with the prime minister of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, between meetings in the White House and a formal dinner November 18, 2025.
Trump’s Gaza peace plan took a major step forward less than 24 hours earlier when the U.N. Security Council endorsed the next steps, including the creation of an International Stabilization Force (ISF) overseen by a Trump-chaired Board of Peace. Authorized by Resolution 2803, those entities have a mandate through the end of 2027 to shepherd Gaza through disarmament, reconstruction and other preparations for peaceful Palestinian autonomy. Trump expressed confidence that the Palestinians and the Israelis will be happy, though he did not explain how Hamas will be disarmed without the ISF having a U.N. endorsement to use force or the willingness of the countries supplying the troops to do so.
Saudi Arabia is expected to provide significant funding to help rebuild Gaza and perhaps to send troops for the ISF, but the crown prince did not make a public financial commitment at the White House. “It’ll be a lot,” Trump assured reporters about the Saudi financial contribution.
On the Abraham Accords, the signature foreign policy achievement of Trump’s first term, MBS linked his support to movement on a path toward a two-state solution. He did not criticize the Palestinians even though Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan was deeply critical of Palestinian outrage over the accords in 2020. MBS noted his desire to have good relations with all Middle Eastern countries and notably set a conciliatory tone toward Iran, a historical adversary of the Saudis.
MBS realizes that if his country is to engage in development, the region must be free of the violence characterized by the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and Iran’s regional aggression. MBS thus tapped into Trump’s interest in seeking better U.S.-Iranian relations and making a deal.
The crown prince focused on nine decades of strengthening U.S.-Saudi relations, which have improved as Saudi opposition to Israel’s existence has softened. In 1947, Saudi King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud warned President Harry Truman not to support Zionism. But by 1979, Foreign Minister Prince Fahd could see Egypt being forgiven for making peace with Israel, and the next year Prince Bandar bin Sultan expressed openness to recognizing Israel. So it was no surprise when President Ronald Reagan decided in 1981 to sell advanced military aircraft to the Saudis despite Israeli and American Jewish opposition.
MBS in turn secured Trump’s signature on the U.S.-Saudi Strategic Defense Agreement, which designates Saudi Arabia as a “major, non-NATO ally” to the United States. The defense deal allows the Saudis to join Israel as the only Middle East countries buying cutting-edge F-35 fighter jets and includes the purchase of 300 American tanks.
Rather than promise diplomatic advances with Israel in exchange for those military gains, the crown prince increased his pledge for Saudi business investments in the United States from May 2025’s $600 billion to $1 trillion and offered collaboration in areas such as advanced computer chips, artificial intelligence and essential minerals. “Business deals entwined with strategic transactions to stabilize the region” thus could be the headline for the MBS visit.
— Michael Jacobs and Ken Stein, November 18, 2025
Reporter: Mr. President, the crown prince has been instrumental in helping lift the sanctions on Syria.
Trump: That’s true.
Reporter: Will there be any joint investment between the U.S. and Syria, and will you visit Damascus?
Trump: Are you from Syria?
Reporter: No, but —
Trump: Where are you from?
Reporter: I’m from Palestine.
Trump: Oh, we’re making a lot of progress, huh? Very good. The Palestinians like me. The Palestinians are doing very well actually. I think we’re working very closely with a lot of people to make everybody happy, including Israel, the Palestinians and everybody. That’s very interesting. No, I think that, I will tell you, the crown prince called me, and he specifically asked me if I would lift the sanctions on Syria because he wants to see Syria make it. As you know, the leader of Syria was just here. We had a great meeting, and he’s a strong guy. And I guess you’d need a strong person to run it, and I think Syria has made tremendous progress. And we did lift the sanctions at the request of the crown prince. Also the president of Turkey, Erdogan, called me specifically. He said, “You know, if you don’t lift the sanctions, Syria doesn’t have a chance. If you do, they have a very good chance.” And between the two of them and some others, I lifted the sanctions. And the results so far have been pretty good.
Reporter: Mr. President, can I ask you a question about the F-35s that are being sold to Saudi Arabia?
Trump: Sure.
Reporter: Are these the same ones that are being used by the Israeli military? And if so, how does that allow for the qualitative military edge for Israel? And then I want to ask you, because you brought up the plight of the Palestinians, are you aware of relocation flights to South Africa that are taking place right now?
Trump: Which flights?
Reporter: They’re relocation flights that are taking place. Some Palestinians are being charged up to $2,000.
Trump: I’m not going to South Africa for the G20 because I think their policies on the extermination of people are unacceptable, so I’m not going. So I won’t refer to anything having to do with South Africa. South Africa has behaved extremely badly. But I will say that when you look at the F-35, and you’re asking me, “Is it the same?” I think it’s going to be pretty similar, yeah. This is a great ally, and Israel is a great ally. And I know they’d like you to get planes of reduced caliber. I don’t think that makes you too happy. They’ve been a great ally. Israel’s been a great ally, and we’re looking at that exactly right now. But as far as I’m concerned, I think they are both at a level where they should get top of the line.
Yes, please.
Reporter: Have you reached an agreement on the U.S.-Saudi defense treaty today, and are you going to bring up the Abraham Accords in your discussions?
Trump: I already brought them up.
Reporter: What did you say?
Trump: I think I got a positive response. Would you like to respond?
MBS: Yes, so, so —
Trump: I’ll put you on the spot.
MBS: So definitely we believe having a good relation with all Middle Eastern countries is a good thing, and we want to be part of the Abraham Accords. But we want also to be sure that we secure a clear path of a two-state solution. Today we have a healthy discussion with Mr. President that we’re going to work on that to be sure that we can prepare the right situation as soon as possible to have that.
Trump: I think we’re, you know, I don’t want to use the word commitment, but we’ve had a very good talk on the Abraham Accords. We talked about one state, two state, you know, we talked about a lot of things in a short period of time. We’ll be discussing them further too. But I think you have a very good feeling for the Abraham Accords.
MBS: Yes, definitely, Mr. President. We want peace for the Israelis. We want peace for the Palestinians. We want them to coexist peacefully in the region, and we will do our best to reach that day.
Reporter: And the defense agreement, have you reached agreement on that?
Trump: We pretty much have. We have reached agreement on that.
Reporter: A question for the crown prince if I could just finish.
Trump: We have reached agreement on that.
Reporter: I wanted to ask you about the direct talks between the United States and Iran. Have you been fully briefed on that, and are you concerned at all about how this might impact Saudi security interests?
MBS: Well, we are a close ally. We’ll be working closely together on that issue, and we will do our best to help to reach a deal between the rest of America and Iran. And we believe it’s good for Iran’s future to have a good deal that satisfies the region and the world and the rest of America. So we will do our best to see that they happen.
Trump: And, by the way, Iran does want to make a deal. I can say I think they very badly want to make a deal. I am totally open to it, and we’re talking to them, and we start a process. But it would be a nice thing to have a deal with Iran, and we could have done it before the war, but that didn’t work out. And something will happen there I think. But they would very much like — I mean, they may say something else — but they would very much like to have a deal.
Reporter: You said you are planning to sell the F-35 jets to Saudi Arabia. Is it part of the security agreement? And how do you assess the defense partnership between Saudi Arabia and the United States?
Trump: Well, you just said it. We’re going to sell them F-35s. That’s the end of the question, I guess.
Reporter: Is that part of the security agreement or no?
Trump: No, we’re going to have a deal. They’re going to purchase F-35s. They’re buying them from Lockheed, and it’s a great plane. We make, by the way, the best military equipment. You saw that during the Iran, a little skirmish. We make the best planes, the best missiles. We make the best defensive missiles. We make the best military equipment in the world.
Reporter: A question for Your Royal Highness about how you see the cooperation between the United States and Saudi Arabia in the advanced technological field, especially AI, and how it will support Saudi Arabia to its goal to achieve the Vision of 2030.
MBS: I will try to answer that in short. But definitely there’s a lot of interest in many businesses between Saudi Arabia and America, and we are signing a lot of agreements in different areas that would really add value to the American economy but also to add value to us in Saudi Arabia. And AI, it’s critical for us because one of the long-term problems that you could have is lack of workforce, as you’ve seen in the past few years. …
Reporter: Your Royal Highness, just picking up on something you’ve just mentioned about how some people tried to destroy the relationship between Saudi Arabia and the United States, perhaps you know, since the launch of the Vision, we’ve been used to having the bigger picture and that everything fits into the bigger picture. Might you want to elaborate a little bit about where is the relationship, the bilateral relationship, the strategic partnership between Saudi Arabia and the United States heading, and what’s the big picture there?
MBS: Well, I don’t think it’s a relation that we can replace it from the Saudi side or the American side. It’s a critical relationship for our political attempt, for our economical attempt, for our security, for our military, for many things, and it has been there for nine decades. And the opportunities that we have today, it’s huge and seems that it’s going to get deeper in the next few decades. And what we are having today and tomorrow with President Trump, it’s really a huge new chapter on this relation that will add value to both of us. …
Reporter: President Trump, do you expect a formal civil nuclear deal to be reached soon? Can you talk to us about that aspect … with Saudi Arabia?
Trump: I can see that happening.
Reporter: Do you think that an agreement will happen today?
Trump: It’s not urgent. …
Reporter: And on the F-35, are those sales — Israel had reportedly wanted those sales to be conditioned on Saudi Arabia moving to normalize relations.
Trump: Israel will be happy. Israel’s going to be happy. Israel is aware, and they’re going to be very happy. …
Reporter: How would you describe the future relationship with Saudi Arabia? I mean from the strategic aspects.
Trump: I would say top of the line. I don’t think it can get much better. Look, we have a country that trusts us, and that’s why they make that investment. If they didn’t trust us, they couldn’t make that investment. And we trust them. They’ve been very reliable. … I don’t think our relationship could be better. I don’t think they had a great relationship under Biden, and I don’t think they had a great relationship under Obama. But they have a great relationship under Trump. When we did the Presidential Walk of Fame, you saw that, right? And we walked in, and I asked the crown prince, outside of Trump, because I blow everyone away, who was the best president for Saudi Arabia? And you could maybe — it’s an interesting answer.
MBS: Roosevelt, who started it, who was Democrat, and Reagan, he’s one of the historical presidents that had close ties with Saudi Arabia. But we’ve worked with all presidents. …
Reporter: Mr. President, very quickly, I wanted to ask you: How much money is Saudi Arabia giving for Gaza reconstruction?
MBS: We are in discussion about that. Still, there is no amount.
Trump: It’ll be a lot. It’ll be a lot.
MBS: But it will definitely happen.
Trump: It’s very important to him.
Reporter: And a quick follow-up. The international security force, given your pledge there would be no U.S. boots on the ground, what is the U.S. role going to be in that, and how do you ratify the allegations that this could undermine Palestinian sovereignty and even the path to statehood?
Trump: I think we’re going to get along great with the Palestinians, and we know their leadership. We just had a very, you hate to say war, but it was a war. Very, very successful. And you could say really it was on behalf of everybody. We did that on behalf of everybody. And the outcome was extraordinary because we have the best pilots, the best equipment, the best planes, the best everything, and Israel bought the best equipment. They bought it from us. Everything’s from us. It all starts here at this office.
