Riyadh is looking at the possibility to purchase the Iron Dome missile defense systems, manufactured by the Israeli defense technology company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries.
According to Israeli media, the Israeli Defense Ministry reported that a deal with Saudi Arabia would be possible if both countries receive US approval. An informed official said that “Saudi Arabia’s interest in Israeli systems has reached a very practical phase.”
Several sources also report that Riyadh has been in low-level negotiations with Tel Aviv for several years about such systems.
Presumably, negotiations began to gain momentum when it became clear that the US was going to withdraw its air defense assets from the Kingdom.
The position of the American side is evidenced by the fact that the US batteries THAAD and Patriot, which were deployed after the strike on Saudi Arabia’s oil production facilities in 2019, were removed from the Prince Sultan Air Base located outside Riyadh.
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