The New York Times reported Wednesday that the Emirati military was given a classified briefing by administration officials on the F-35 fighter jet in recent weeks. But relevant committees in Congress have not been notified of an arms sale to UAE involving F-35s and there is no unofficial review underway either, the aides said. Arms sales take years to come to fruition, particularly ones that involve such advanced defense systems. It is unclear if there were also sideline discussions about the possible arms sale. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement Tuesday that Israel repeatedly raised concerns about the possibility of advanced arms sales to "any country in the Middle East" in the weeks before the normalization deal was announced.

Source: CNN August 20, 2020 13:41 UTC