The UAE and the F-35 deal ... Questions in Congress about Trump's pursuit of political goals

Two US lawmakers asked the State and Defense departments for clarification about the sale of F-35s to the UAE, and described President Donald Trump's administration as rushing the deal for political purposes.

Senator Bob Menendez, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, and Senator Jack Reed, a member of the Armed Forces Committee in the Senate, have directed a written inquiry to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Mark Esper about the terms, conditions and guarantees of the sale of "F-35" to the UAE.

Menendez and Reed included 16 questions in which they asked Pompeo and Esper to respond to ensure adequate consideration of this deal, as the questions included inquiries about the relationship of this deal to the normalization of relations between the UAE and Israel.

The two Democratic lawmakers described the Trump administration as rushing the deal for purposes related mainly to political deadlines, and warned that the urgency would prevent adequate and thorough consideration of the deal by national security professionals in the State and Defense departments, as well as by Congress.

The two senators added in their letter that the "F-35" is one of the most advanced aircraft in the world and gives the United States a tremendous military advantage, and that selling it to the UAE could seriously endanger the national security and safety of American forces.

They said: What will ensure that the technology and sensitive military components in these aircraft are not compromised, that they are not in the hands of parties that are adversarial to the United States, or that they are not used in conflicts that differ from the United States and the UAE in its assessment and position?

In their letter, they also questioned whether the sale of F-35 aircraft to Abu Dhabi would not lose Tel Aviv its qualitative military edge, nor would it endanger Israel's security.

The letter referred to the UAE's support for the retired Libyan General Khalifa Haftar, describing him as a bloody military leader, and expressing concern about the military cooperation between the UAE and Russia and China.

Since Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv reached an agreement to normalize relations between them on August 13, there have been reports of the White House accelerating its efforts to sell advanced weapons to the UAE, including the F-35 fighter jets and "Reaper" drones.