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Iran is backing Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro just as the Trump administration steps up military pressure in the Caribbean and expands its crackdown on criminal networks tied to the regime in Caracas.

Earlier this week, Iran condemned U.S. actions and publicly tied itself to Maduro. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei warned of "dangerous repercussions" from U.S. military activity in the region, arguing the operations threaten "international peace and security," according to Iran’s official news agency, IRNA.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Iván Gil Pinto immediately welcomed Tehran’s backing. In comments reported by the Tehran Times, he thanked Iran for its "solidarity with the Venezuelan people."

WAR ON CARTELS? WHITE HOUSE SAYS IT HAS AN IRON-CLAD CASE TO STRIKE NARCO-TERRORIST GROUPS

Isaias Medina III, a former Venezuelan diplomat at the U.N. Security Council who resigned in 2017 due to Maduro's human rights violations, told Fox News Digital that "Iran’s partnership with the rogue Venezuelan narco-dictatorship is far from a principled stand for ‘sovereign rights’ under the U.N. Charter. It is a calculated strategy serving mutual interests in criminal enterprise and asymmetric warfare, posing a direct and evolving threat to U.S. national security," he said.

"This is a partnership for power, not principles. Iran’s engagement centers on deepening military, criminal, and intelligence cooperation that blatantly disregards international norms," he said.

When asked on Monday whether he had ruled out anything, including U.S. troops on the ground, President Donald Trump told reporters, "No, I don’t rule out that, I don’t rule out anything. We just have to take care of Venezuela. They dumped hundreds of thousands of people into our country from prisons."

CARTEL CONNECTION: HEZBOLLAH AND IRAN EXPLOIT MADURO’S VENEZUELA FOR COCAINE CASH

Danny Citrinowicz, a senior fellow at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, told Fox News Digital that Iran’s public defense of Venezuela reflects deep strategic anxiety inside Tehran.

"Iran is extremely, extremely worried that it’s going to lose its main hub in Latin America," he said. "Losing Maduro will be a strategic loss for Iran, because Venezuela is a strategic hub, not only for the activity in Venezuela itself, but also activity in Latin America in general."

Citrinowicz pointed to the recently exposed assassination attempt on Israel’s ambassador in Mexico, which Mexican authorities linked to operatives with ties to Iran’s Quds Force. According to Citrinowicz, the operation illustrates how Iran uses Venezuelan territory as a staging ground.

TRUMP’S STRIKE ON CARTEL VESSEL OFF VENEZUELA SENDS WARNING TO MADURO: ‘NO SANCTUARY’

He said the Iranians "used their presence in Venezuela, mainly the Quds Force presence, in order to gather the right people that actually tried to commit this attack." 

"It’s one example of many, how Iranians are using their presence in Venezuela as some sort of way to jump into the Latin American continent as a whole."

He added that Venezuela has long been Iran’s most important foothold in the region: "Losing Venezuela is not only losing the grip of Venezuela itself, but also the ability to use Venezuela in order to enhance their activity in Latin America in general, also including operational activity like we saw in Mexico."

Citrinowicz said that Iran has already lost one longtime ally in the region after recent elections in Bolivia. Remaining partners include Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, but "strategically and historically, Venezuela was the most important one because it gave them enough room to operate."

WATCH: COAST GUARD SEIZES COCAINE, SUSPECTED NARCO-TERRORISTS IN PACIFIC VIPER RAID

Asked whether Iran is aiding the Venezuelan military directly, he said: "They have advisors on the ground. They can help the Venezuelan army, and they can also send arms via Qeshm Fars Air flights flying from Tehran to Caracas. They did that in the past, and they can do that even today."

On Tuesday, American Families Against Cartel Terrorism (AmFACT) President Adriana Jones welcomed the U.S. State Department’s designation of Venezuela-based Cartel de los Soles as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

Jones — whose sister Maria "Rhonita" LeBaron and four of her children were murdered in the 2019 Juárez cartel massacre — said the move demonstrates Washington’s resolve.

"The terrorist designation of the Cartel de los Soles is an important reminder that the Trump administration is willing to use Foreign Terrorist Organization designations to combat dangerous drug and human trafficking cartels," she said.

She urged policymakers to extend the same designation to the Juárez Cartel and its armed wing, La Línea, arguing that every day without it "allows them space to operate with impunity and heightens the likelihood that more American families will endure the same grief and devastation we have."

Since September, the U.S. has launched at least 21 fatal strikes on boats allegedly involved in narcotics trafficking off Central and South America, including one on Sunday, as part of what officials describe as a widening campaign to disrupt maritime routes tied to Venezuelan criminal networks.

Gunmen reportedly attacked a church in Nigeria, killing at least two people and kidnapping the pastor and some worshippers, according to Reuters, which cited police and witnesses.

The attack occurred on Tuesday evening in Eruku, a town in central Nigeria's Kwara State. Reuters said it reviewed and verified a video from a local news outlet showing gunfire interrupting a service at Christ Apostolic Church and forcing parishioners to take cover. The outlet noted that in the video, armed men are seen entering and taking worshippers' belongings as gunshots ring out.

AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, the governor of Kwara State, Nigeria, reportedly asked for the immediate deployment of security operatives after the attack, Reuters reported citing the governor's spokesperson.

NICKI MINAJ TEAMS UP WITH TRUMP'S UN AMBASSADOR TO SPOTLIGHT 'GENOCIDE' OF CHRISTIANS IN NIGERIA

The attack comes just days after gunmen kidnapped 25 girls from a boarding school in Nigeria’s Kebbi State and killed at least one staffer. Police spokesperson Nafi'u Abubakar Kotarkoshi told The Associated Press the gunmen had "sophisticated weapons" and exchanged fire with guards before abducting the girls.

"A combined team is currently combing suspected escape routes and surrounding forests in a coordinated search and rescue operation aimed at recovering the abducted students and arresting the perpetrators," he said, adding that one person was killed and another was injured.

President Donald Trump has designated Nigeria as a country of particular concern amid escalating violence against Christians in the West African nation.

ARMED ATTACKERS IN NIGERIA KIDNAP 25 GIRLS FROM BOARDING SCHOOL

On Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz held an event highlighting the ongoing violence in Nigeria. During the event, Waltz called the killings of Christians in Nigeria "genocide wearing the mask of chaos."

"There is a body of evidence, and you are going to hear that from our experts today that paints a very grim picture of disproportionate suffering among Christians, where, again, families are torn apart, clergy is repeatedly assassinated, and entire congregations, church congregations," Waltz said.

"Folks, we have an entire faith that is being erased, one bullet at a time, one torched Bible at a time," he added.

Rap superstar Nicki Minaj, who has been vocal about her support for the Trump administration's efforts to combat the persecution of Christians in Nigeria, spoke at Waltz's event.

"In Nigeria, Christians are being targeted, driven from their homes and killed. Churches have been burned. Families have been torn apart, and entire communities live in fear constantly, simply because of how they pray," Minaj said.

"Sadly, this problem is not only a growing problem in Nigeria, but also in so many other countries across the world, and it demands urgent action," the rap mogul said. "And I want to be clear, protecting Christians in Nigeria is not about taking sides or dividing people. It is about uniting humanity."

Fox News Digital reached out to AbdulRazaq's office and the U.S. mission to the United Nations.

Fox News Digital's Ashley Carnahan and Paul Tilsley contributed to this report.

A large-scale Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine rocked the western city of Ternopil Tuesday night, killing more than two dozen people, including three children.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said Wednesday that at least 25 people were killed and 73 injured in the strike that hit two nine-story residential buildings.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia launched more than 470 drones and 48 missiles in the overnight assault. Emergency services were working to rescue people under the rubble and put out fires caused by the strikes. 

Photos from the scene showed blown-out windows, the charred, blackened exterior of a residential building and smoke billowing as crews worked to clear the area.

RUSSIAN CRUISE MISSILES HIT US COMPANY IN MASSIVE UKRAINIAN STRIKE AMID TRUMP'S PEACE PUSH

Zelenskyy said nine other regions across Ukraine were also struck, including critical infrastructure and energy facilities in Lviv and civilian infrastructure in Kharkiv.

RUSSIAN CRUISE MISSILES HIT US COMPANY IN MASSIVE UKRAINE STRIKE AMID TRUMP’S PEACE PUSH

"Every brazen attack against ordinary life proves that the pressure on Russia is still insufficient. Effective sanctions and assistance for Ukraine can change this. The top priority is air defense missiles, additional systems, expanded capabilities for our combat aviation, and drone production to protect lives," he wrote on X.

ROMANIA AND LATVIA CONFIRM INCURSIONS BY RUSSIAN DRONES INTO NATO AIRSPACE

"Russia must be held accountable for its actions, and we must stay focused on everything that strengthens us and enables us to shoot down Russian missiles, neutralize Russian drones, and stop assaults."

Poland’s Operational Command said late Tuesday it had scrambled fighter jets and raised air defense readiness after Russia launched the missile and drone strikes against Ukraine, stressing the measures were preventive and aimed at protecting Polish airspace near the border.

President Donald Trump started his campaign for Europe in general and Germany in particular to spend more of their budgets on defense during his first term, and it's starting to pay off in the economic engine of Europe, the Federal Republic of Germany.

Germany’s coalition government — Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union and the Social Democrats — has agreed to a new system of incentives for voluntary military service after a heated debate last week to address the growing Russia threat to the European continent.

Incentives to generate recruitment involve free access to driving licenses. The cost of driving licenses can reach several thousand dollars. The second incentive is an increase in the existing pre-tax salary at the starting level, to around $3,000 a month.

US BRISTLES AT GERMANY'S DEFENSE BUDGET PLANS AFTER IT FALLS SHORT

German conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz declared at the start of his tenure that Germany’s armed forces would be transformed into "Europe’s strongest conventional army," Jens Spahn, the parliamentary leader of Merz’s CDU party, told reporters on Thursday. "We want to win over as many young people as possible for the service for the fatherland."

Spahn added that if the voluntary model does not secure sufficient military soldiers and personnel, "we’ll need to make it obligatory" Spahn noted, however, that the move toward compulsory conscription would mean a new law would need to be passed.

David Wurmser, who worked for the U.S. Navy Reserve as an intelligence officer, as a Lieutenant Commander and was a former senior advisor for nonproliferation and Middle East strategy for Vice President Dick Cheney, told Fox News Digital that "Europe is finally beginning to contemplate defense and a more serious way."

"While it has never been its official policy, over the last few decades, Europeans took for granted the American umbrella and the inconceivability of war to both largely minimize any defense burden they share, as well as placed themselves as some sort of moral conscience lording over the world that ranged into pacifism and impossible moral perfection. It is a good thing that they are now forced to start soberly thinking about their defense and what that might entail."

‘MAKE NATO GREAT AGAIN’: HEGSETH PUSHES EUROPEAN ALLIES TO STEP UP DEFENSE EFFORTS

He added that "it is important that we in the United States begin to understand that the center of gravity of European civilization is shifting eastward. The fact that Germany, before Britain and France, seemed to appreciate the threat that it faces and the resulting need to stand up a more robust defense, is symbolic of that shift eastward."

According to Wurmser, "Symbolically, Germany’s actions represent a realization that is long overdue, but is not yet universally understood. That what happened in February 2022, as well as what is happening in the Middle East against Israel, are only localized versions of a much larger, dangerous, and potentially deadly global competition that is led by several nations in opposition to western civilization."

He said, "That axis represents the fusion of communist, Islamist, and fascist thought. That unholy alliance, which is an unlikely alliance, is anchored first and foremost to the loathing of Western civilization. The West will not survive unless it realizes that, and what Germany is doing is to some extent a first small step in that direction. "

Trump urged Germany to pay the U.S.more for its military defense of Germany during his first term.

Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday strongly affirmed U.S. bishops' message condemning the Trump administration’s immigration sweeps, calling on Americans to listen to the migrants and treat them humanely and with dignity.

The pope was asked about the "special message" the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops adopted during their general assembly last week in Baltimore.

The bishops blasted President Donald Trump's mass deportation agenda and the "vilification" of migrants, expressing concern over the fear and anxiety immigration raids stoking in communities, as well as the denial of pastoral care to migrants in detention centers.

"We are disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement," the bishops’ statement reads. "We are saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants. We are concerned about the conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care," reads the bishops' statement, which also opposed "the indiscriminate mass deportation of people."

US CATHOLIC BISHOPS VOTE TO OFFICIALLY PROHIBIT GENDER TRANSITION TREATMENT AT CATHOLIC HOSPITALS

Leo, the first American pope, said he appreciated the U.S. bishops' message and encouraged Catholics and all people of goodwill to listen to treat migrants with dignity, even if they are in the country illegally.

"I think we have to look for ways of treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have," Leo told reporters. "If people are in the United States illegally, there are ways to treat that. There are courts, there’s a system of justice."

The pope has previously urged local bishops to speak out on social justice concerns. Catholic leaders have been criticizing Trump's mass deportation plan, as fear of immigration raids has slashed Mass attendance at some parishes.

The federal government earlier this year reversed a Biden administration directive prohibiting immigration agents from carrying out raids at sensitive areas such as churches, schools and hospitals.

Leo acknowledged problems with the U.S. migration system, but he emphasized that nobody has argued for the U.S. to have open borders and that every country may choose who can enter and the methods to do so.

"But when people are living good lives, and many of them for 10, 15, 20 years, to treat them in a way that is extremely disrespectful to say the least — and there’s been some violence unfortunately — I think that the bishops have been very clear in what they said," he told reporters as he left the papal country house south of Rome.

POPE LEO XIV CALLS OUT CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION AMID LATEST MASSACRE OF CIVILIANS IN AFRICAN NATION

"I would just invite all people in the United States to listen to them," Leo added.

The bishops' "special message" was the first time since 2013 they had drafted a single-issue statement at one of their meetings.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling on neighboring nations to join in the Jewish state's fight to expel Hamas out of the region.

"Israel extends its hand in peace and prosperity to all of our neighbors and calls on them to normalize relations with Israel and join us in expelling Hamas and its supporters from the region," Netanyahu's office wrote on X.

The statement follows the United Nations Security Council's (UNSC) endorsement of President Donald Trump's peace plan for Gaza. The council adopted the plan, which would end the war and deploy an international stabilization force, on Monday.

In an address to the council, Waltz described Gaza as "a hell on earth" after two years of conflict, saying the resolution offered the world a chance to replace "rubble where schools once stood" with "a path to peace." The measure passed 14–0, with two abstentions — including Russia — and was adopted.

UN SECURITY COUNCIL BACKS TRUMP'S GAZA PEACE PLAN AFTER WALTZ CALLS TERRITORY 'HELL ON EARTH'

"Voting yes today isn’t just endorsing a plan," Waltz said. "It’s affirming our shared humanity. A vote against this resolution is a vote to return to war."

Netanyahu's office praised the UNSC for adopting the deal and added that Israel believes the "plan will lead to peace and prosperity because it insists upon full demilitarization, disarmament and the deradicalization of Gaza."

Israel also called for the release of the remaining deceased hostages: Ron Gvili, Dror Or and Sudthisak Rinthalak.

UN AMBASSADOR WALTZ REVEALS TRUMP'S MIDDLE EAST PEACE PLAN IS ‘THE ONLY WAY FORWARD’

In addition to inviting other nations to join in efforts to expel Hamas, Israel also expressed hope that the plan would lead to the expansion of the Abraham Accords, a set of agreements brokered under Trump's first administration. Countries that have already signed agreements normalizing their relationships with Israel are the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.

"True to President Trump’s vision, this will lead to further integration of Israel and its neighbors as well as expansion of the Abraham Accords. President Trump’s breakthrough leadership will help lead the region to peace and prosperity and a lasting alliance with the United States," Netanyahu's office added.

A senior Trump administration official said in October, as the peace deal was going into effect in Israel and Gaza, that the U.S. was looking at the end of the war as an opportunity to expand the agreements.

"There’s a lot of positive momentum that will pick up," a senior administration official told reporters. "Hopefully this will lead to much better sentiment and the opportunity to expand the Abraham Accords — to really just change the tone in the region."

Fox News Digital's Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.

Rap star Nicki Minaj is garnering praise for using her platform to shed light on the persecution of Christians in Nigeria.

Ahead of Minaj's scheduled appearance at the United Nations with U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz, Knox Thames, a human rights lawyer, thanked the rapper for the attention that she and other stars, like Bill Maher, have brought to the issue.

"The challenges in Nigeria have been happening for decades, and they've largely been ignored. So I welcome these unsuspecting allies shining a light on this," Thames said of the celebrities.

TRUMP DESIGNATES NIGERIA AS 'COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN' OVER WIDESPREAD CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION, KILLINGS

Thames, who served as a State Department special advisor for religious minorities under former President George W. Bush, former President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump, said that in Nigeria, "the body count is just too high to ignore." While he would not say definitively that what is happening in Nigeria is a genocide, he said it is something that must be addressed.

"This question of, ‘is there a Christian genocide happening?’ It's a legal question. Genocide is defined by international law, and scholars will debate that. But what's undeniable is that in the last 20 years, thousands of Christians have been killed, and the body count is just too high to ignore," Thames said.

Trump announced in late October that he was designating Nigeria as a "country of particular concern," citing the widespread killings of Christians in the West African nation.

"Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Oct. 31. "The United States cannot stand by while such atrocities are happening in Nigeria, and numerous other countries. We stand ready, willing, and able to save our great Christian population around the world!"

RAPPER NICKI MINAJ AND UN AMBASSADOR JOIN VOICES AGAINST CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION IN NIGERIA

Following the announcement, Minaj said the president's statement made her "feel a deep sense of gratitude."

"Reading this made me feel a deep sense of gratitude. We live in a country where we can freely worship God. No group should ever be persecuted for practicing their religion. We don’t have to share the same beliefs in order for us to respect each other," Minaj wrote.

On Tuesday, Minaj will address the United Nations on the issue of the persecution of Nigerian Christians.

Waltz, who said he was a fan of the rapper, said on X, "I'm grateful she's leveraging her massive platform to spotlight the atrocities against Christians in Nigeria, and I look forward to standing with her as we discuss the steps the President and his administration are taking to end the persecution of our Christian brothers and sisters."

Minaj replied, "Ambassador, I am so grateful to be entrusted with an opportunity of this magnitude. I do not take it for granted. It means more than you know. The Barbz and I will never stand down in the face of injustice. We’ve been given our influence by God. There must be a bigger purpose."

Fox News Digital's Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.

A spokesperson for Poland's special services minister accused Russian intelligence Tuesday of orchestrating a railway blast that destroyed a key track on a route used to deliver aid to Ukraine.

Jacek Dobrzyński told reporters that "everything indicates" Russian intelligence was behind the sabotage of Polish railways.

"The fact is that everything indicates that this — we can already confidently call it a terrorist attack — was initiated by special services from the East," said Dobrzyński.

NATO JETS SCRAMBLED AMID RUSSIA'S LARGEST DRONE ATTACK ON UKRAINE

An explosion destroyed a section of track on the Warsaw-Lublin railway line, while another stretch farther south was damaged in what authorities are investigating as a possible act of sabotage.

Dobrzyński said the investigations into both incidents were still ongoing. "I cannot say what stage the officers are [at] or [what they are] currently working on and what threads they are connecting or what threads they are analyzing," he explained.

"The Russian services would very much want to have this information: where our officers are or in which direction they are heading."

RUSSIAN DRONE CRASHES IN POLISH FIELD AS WARSAW PROTESTS AIRSPACE VIOLATION AND PLANS FORMAL COMPLAINT

Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the blast on the Warsaw-Lublin line an "unprecedented act of sabotage."

"The explosion of an explosive device destroyed the railway track. Emergency services and the prosecutor's office are working at the scene. On the same route, closer to Lublin, damage has also been identified," Tusk wrote Monday on X, vowing to find the perpetrators.

RUSSIA DRAWING UP PLANS TO CONDUCT NUCLEAR TESTS AFTER TRUMP ANNOUNCEMENT

The government’s National Security Committee convened Tuesday with military commanders, intelligence chiefs and the president’s representative in attendance to discuss the incidents.

Poland's accusation comes amid recent security incidents in Eastern Europe, following airspace incursions in September that saw Russian drones enter Poland and three MiG-31 fighter jets cross into Estonia before being intercepted by NATO aircraft.

Gunmen kidnapped 25 girls from a boarding school in Nigeria’s Kebbi State and killed at least one staffer, authorities said Monday.

The schoolgirls were taken around 4 a.m., and no group immediately claimed responsibility for the incident.

Police spokesperson Nafi'u Abubakar Kotarkoshi told The Associated Press the gunmen had "sophisticated weapons" and exchanged fire with guards before abducting the girls.

"A combined team is currently combing suspected escape routes and surrounding forests in a coordinated search and rescue operation aimed at recovering the abducted students and arresting the perpetrators," he said, adding that one person was killed and another was injured.

NIGERIAN FILM RAISES AWARENESS ABOUT DOZENS OF GIRLS ABDUCTED FROM SCHOOL IN 2014

Abdulkarim Abdullahi Maga, a resident who said his daughter and granddaughter were abducted in the raid, told the AP that the attackers entered the school with motorcycles.

AMERICAN MISSIONARY KIDNAPPED IN NIGER BY SUSPECTED ISLAMIST MILITANTS, SOURCES SAY

"They first went straight to the teacher’s house and killed him before killing the guard," said Maga.

The latest abductions come amid a string of mass kidnappings in northern Nigeria in recent years.

In 2024, 280 students were abducted from a school in Kaduna State and at least 200 others, mostly internally displaced women and children, were abducted in Borno State while reportedly searching for firewood, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.

More than 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped from a Chibok secondary school in 2014 by Boko Haram militants, sparking international outrage and a #BringBackOurGirls campaign.

RAPPER NIKKI MINAJ AND UN AMBASSADOR JOIN VOICES AGAINST CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION IN NIGERIA

Rep. Riley Moore, R-W. Va., asked for prayers for the kidnapped schoolgirls and called on the Nigerian government to do more to end the "rampant violence."

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrives in Washington on Tuesday for his first White House visit in seven years, marking a pivotal moment to rebuild U.S.-Saudi ties and strengthen a partnership that remains central to American security and energy interests.

Ahead of the meeting, a group of 9/11 survivors, first responders and victims’ families urged President Donald Trump to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for its alleged role in the 2001 attacks. This follows a United States federal district court judge, George B. Daniels, ruling against Saudi Arabia's efforts to dismiss a lawsuit brought against it by the families of 9/11 victims, which alleged the country was party to the attacks.

The visit comes as Trump has publicly confirmed the United States will sell F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, telling reporters on Monday, "I will say that we will be doing that. We’ll be selling the F-35s," a move that immediately places Israel’s qualitative military edge and the region’s future defense architecture at the center of the conversation.

9/11 FAMILIES URGE TRUMP TO PRESS SAUDIS FOR ACCOUNTABILITY AHEAD OF MBS VISIT TO DC: 'OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE'

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital that "President Trump looks forward to welcoming Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud to the White House, where the two leaders will participate in an official working visit. Thanks to our Dealmaker-in-Chief, the United States secured $600 billion in historic investments during the President’s visit to Saudi Arabia earlier this year, and Americans can expect more good deals for our country spanning technology, manufacturing, critical minerals, defense, and more."

A senior administration official, speaking on background, told Fox News Digital that the expected agreements will include a multibillion-dollar investment in America’s AI infrastructure, enhanced cooperation on civil nuclear energy and defense sales aimed at strengthening defense cooperation between the two countries.

The official added that the visit will also focus on the fulfillment of the Saudis’ $600 billion investment pledge through dozens of targeted investments across key U.S. sectors.

In Saudi Arabia, the visit is being seen as historic. Aziz Alghashian, a lecturer in international relations at Naif Arab University in Riyadh, said there is "a lot of excitement. The Saudis have said they’re not isolated in the region… this is back through open doors and the front door again." He said the moment reflects a broader shift in how Saudis understand their country’s place in the world. According to Alghashian, Trump’s repeatedly warm comments about the crown prince and the kingdom also contribute to a sense that Riyadh is re-entering Washington on strong footing.

The visit by MBS will be his first White House appearance since the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which U.S. intelligence assessed he approved, a charge he denies.

Jacob Olidort, director for American Security at the America First Policy Institute, told Fox News Digital that "Saudi Arabia is one of the top partners of ours in the region," calling the trip "well overdue, a reset of relations." 

At the heart of the visit is the emerging U.S.-Saudi security pact. Alghashian described its purpose in three words: "elevate, facilitate and consolidate." 

In his view, the agreement is meant "to elevate the Saudi-American relationship," transforming it from what he called a "strategic partnership" into a more formalized security alignment. Although not a full treaty, which Riyadh had previously pursued, the pact would still represent the most significant upgrade to the relationship in decades. He said the shift also has a domestic political rationale in Washington, arguing that being included in an "alliance" category "helps make Saudi Arabia become more of a bipartisan issue, and not just necessarily a Trump legacy."

Alghashian added that Saudi Arabia wants to finalize as much as possible now. "The Saudis… feel urgency to get as much as they can from the Trump administration before these deals get complicated in the next administration," he said. 

That urgency extends to nuclear cooperation, where Saudi Arabia has made clear that while China and South Korea exist as alternatives, its preference is for an American program. "Saudi Arabia really wants American nuclear cooperation because it adds more security," he said, adding that Riyadh will not "wait forever" if conditions become overly restrictive but sees the current U.S. posture as an opening.

UN SECURITY COUNCIL BACKS TRUMP'S GAZA PEACE PLAN AFTER WALTZ CALLS TERRITORY 'HELL ON EARTH'

Olidort said Saudi Arabia has been "very categorical" in what it expects in a changed Middle East: a defense pact and movement on Palestinian statehood. He recalled hearing a senior Saudi official say recently that "there will be no regional integration without Palestinian statehood," a line that reflects the kingdom’s long-standing public position that recognition of Israel will only come after a credible pathway to a Palestinian state is in place.

Still, Olidort said full Saudi-Israel normalization may not be necessary at this moment for U.S. priorities to advance. He said normalization "doesn’t need to be the immediate priority" and suggested that "an upgraded deepening of cooperation, but short of full normalization," could be possible if both sides see value in closer security integration.

TRUMP SECURES DEALS WITH 3 MIDDLE EASTERN NATIONS IN 1ST MAJOR TRIP OF 2ND TERM 

That perspective is particularly relevant given the war in Gaza and Riyadh’s position on reconstruction. As Alghashian noted, Saudi Arabia has said it "will not do reconstruction unless Hamas is gone and Israel withdraws," a stance that places the kingdom at odds with any rushed postwar plan and, in his view, leaves the region "in no man’s land."

Trump’s decision to approve F-35 sales to Saudi Arabia adds another layer. Saudi Arabia has formally requested up to 48 of the fifth-generation jets, making it the largest potential F-35 buyer outside NATO and the first Arab state after the United Arab Emirates to receive them. The move would test Washington’s commitment to maintaining Israel’s qualitative military edge. 

Olidort, however, argued that the sale does not automatically threaten Israel’s superiority. "I don’t know that it will mean Israel losing air superiority," he said, noting that Israel’s defense and aerospace sectors are "world-class" and that the sale could "potentially deepen collaboration between Israel and Saudi Arabia and make each of our partners… more effective."

Beyond defense, the visit is also anchored in technology. Saudi Arabia is pushing for access to advanced American AI chips and positioning itself as a global data and energy hub. 

Olidort framed the issue bluntly, saying AI cooperation with Saudi Arabia is a strategic priority for Washington because "the United States is in ‘a race’ with China" and cautioning that "if we don’t get there, then we will be in a China-dominated AI space." That view reflects the broader U.S. assessment that the future of artificial intelligence — from data-center capacity to semiconductor access — is inseparable from great-power competition.

Fox News' Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.