While China has warned of serious consequences and may impose sanctions, the U.S. frames the sale as a necessary sustainment measure for existing aircraft rather than an escalation.
Even in the earlier "Deal of the Century," Benjamin Netanyahu steered Donald Trump toward a Bar-Ilan-style bear hug: first applying Israeli law to parts of the territories, and only afterward offering a "minus Arab state."
The two men—the older one from glitzy Manhattan, the younger upstart from fashionably upmarket Brooklyn—have built formidable fanbases by championing diametrically opposed visions of America.
While Washington claims Tehran desires an agreement, Iran insists no dialogue will take place without the lifting of sanctions and guarantees respecting its nuclear rights.
The reconciliation culminated in Al-Sharaa’s visit to the White House last week, the first by a Syrian president, and the announcement that Syria had become the 90th member of the US-led Global Coalition Against Daesh.