Observador says Trump approved the Saudi F-35 sale; UPI says the State Department approved a "possible sale"

The figures match. Observador and UPI both report 48 F-35 fighter jets for Saudi Arabia in a package worth $24.3 billion. Neither report contradicts the other on either number.

The approver does not match. Observador's headline says "Donald Trump aprova venda": the president approved the sale. UPI names a different actor: "The U.S. Department of State approved a possible sale."

	Observador	UPI
Who approved it	President Trump	State Department
Headline	Stated flat	Stated flat
Body	"Negócio precisa ainda da aprovação do Congresso" (the deal still needs Congress's approval)	"a possible sale"
Congress mentioned	Yes	No

Neither headline carries its own hedge. Observador's headline says the sale is approved, and the first sentence of its body says it is not final. UPI's body says "possible", and its headline drops the word. So the two headlines claim more than either report does.

Nobody is quoted. Neither report quotes a Saudi official, a US official, a member of Congress or a critic. Both reports we hold are short summaries.

What is not settled - Whether Congress has been formally told about the sale, and whether any member plans to oppose it. Neither report says. - When the jets would be delivered. Neither report gives a date. - Whether the president acted personally. Only Observador's headline says so, and its body does not back it up.

What this is about: the United States has taken a step towards selling its most advanced fighter jet, the F-35, to Saudi Arabia.

How it got here. The F-35 is a stealth combat jet built by Lockheed Martin. Washington sells it only to close allies. Saudi Arabia has asked for it for years. For decades the US has been Saudi Arabia's main arms supplier, and Riyadh has been one of Washington's biggest customers. A 2008 US law requires Washington to preserve Israel's "qualitative military edge" over other states in the region. That law has long been the obstacle to selling the F-35 to Gulf states. In 2020 the United Arab Emirates agreed an F-35 purchase after it normalised relations with Israel. That deal stalled and was never completed. In November 2025, when Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited Washington, President Trump said publicly that he would sell F-35s to Saudi Arabia.

How a US arms sale works. A sale by one government to another passes through the State Department. The department approves it and formally notifies Congress, which has a fixed review period. Congress can block a sale by joint resolution, but the president can veto that resolution. A State Department approval is a stage in this process, not a signed contract. That is why "approved" and "possible sale" can both describe the same step.

Who is involved. The White House and the State Department are on the selling side. Congress has the power to object. Saudi Arabia is the buyer. Israel is not part of the sale, but US law makes its military edge part of the decision.

Why Yemen comes up. A Saudi-led coalition has fought in Yemen since 2015 against the Houthi movement, which took the capital, Sanaa, in 2014. Observador puts the sale beside a UN figure: more than 100,000 people have fled Yemen because of its internal fighting.

Where it stands. The reports we hold describe an approval of a possible sale. Neither describes a signed contract.

The story so far

Shargh: the strait stays shut 'until Trump and Netanyahu are brought down'. Der Standard: oil is being routed through it in a 'US-backed diversion' · 17 Sep 2026

Earlier stories The AI Times filed on this thread.

What is being argued about

Who approved the sale: President Trump or the State Department
Whether the sale is final or still needs Congress
48 F-35 jets worth $24.3 billion
Yemen's war beside a US arms sale to Saudi Arabia

Two reports, one sale: who approved it, and how final is it?Side by side

Outlet	What it said	Who acted	Hedged?
Observador	Headline: "Donald Trump aprova venda de caças F-35 à Arábia Saudita". Body: "Negócio precisa ainda da aprovação do Congresso"	President Trump	Headline no; body yes (still needs Congress)
UPI	Headline: "State Department approves sale of F-35 jets to Saudi Arabia". Body: "approved a possible sale of 48 F-35 Lightning II fighter jets"	State Department	Headline no; body yes ("possible sale")

Both reports give the same figures: 48 jets, $24.3 billion. Neither quotes anyone.

Sources

Observador

UPI

The bias in this coverageBias

Same numbers, different approver

Both reports give 48 jets and $24.3 billion. One headline says the president approved the sale. The other names the State Department and calls it a possible sale, and only one report says Congress must still sign off.

2 reports giving the same jet count and price 1 reports naming the president as the approver 2 reports hedging the deal as possible or pending 0 reports quoting anyone at all

Scored without the mastheads. Where the two passes differ, both are kept.

Sources

Observador

UPI

Claims and verdicts

misleading Donald Trump has approved the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia.

Observador's headline says Trump approved the sale, but its own lede says the deal still needs Congress. UPI says the State Department approved a 'possible sale', not a completed one.

Checked against 2 sources:

Observador

UPI

true The package covers 48 F-35 jets worth $24.3 billion.

Observador and UPI both give 48 jets and $24.3 billion. Neither report contradicts the other on either figure.

Checked against 2 sources:

Observador

UPI

unverified The sale still needs approval from the US Congress.

Only Observador says this outright. UPI's 'possible sale' fits with it but does not mention Congress.

Checked against 2 sources:

Observador

UPI

Who wrote it

L Laura Figueiredo Observador

What the bias passes found in their reporting

Figure and what it counts The UN is cited for more than 100,000 people who fled Yemen, in one line added to an arms-sale story×1

No actor named The cause is given as 'internal conflicts', and no party to them is named×1

Which measure was chosen Gives a UN figure of more than 100,000 who fled Yemen. It does not say over what period.×1

Who is named as acting Gives the cause as 'internal conflicts', with no party named.×1

Claims we checked that rest on their reporting

1 misleading3 unverified1 true

From 74 reports we hold under this byline, at Observador. Two independent readings, each made without the masthead, a quote attached to every tag. A record, never a rating. Their full record →

The bylines on the reports this story is built from. Hover one for what our passes have measured on their reporting. · 1 report we hold carries no byline — we do not invent one.

Coverage, outlet by outlet

Observador — independent

Donald Trump aprova venda de caças F-35 à Arábia Saudita

The only report with an overall figure: it quotes the UN as saying more than 100,000 people fled Yemen because of "internal conflicts". The figure is one line in a story about a US sale of 48 F-35 jets to Saudi Arabia.

Programas / A Guerra Traduzida Ativar alertas × Siga o programa A Guerra Traduzida e receba um alerta assim que um novo episódio é publicado. Donald Trump aprova venda de caças F-35 à Arábia Saudita Negócio precisa ainda da aprovação do Congresso. São 48 caças F-35, num pacote de 24,3 mil milhões de dólares. Ainda, ONU diz que mais de 100 mil pessoas fugiram do Iémen devido aos conflitos internos Ricardo Lopes Texto 18 set. 2026, 15:15 Partilhar artigo Copiar ligação Copiado Email Facebook X Linkedin WhatsApp Ouvir em Spotify Ouvir em Apple Podcasts As mais lidas Esta transcrição foi gerada au

Which measure was chosen: Gives a UN figure of more than 100,000 who fled Yemen. It does not say over what period. — “mais de 100 mil pessoas fugiram do Iémen”

Who is named as acting: Gives the cause as 'internal conflicts', with no party named. — “devido aos conflitos internos”

Figure and what it counts: The UN is cited for more than 100,000 people who fled Yemen, in one line added to an arms-sale story — “ONU diz que mais de 100 mil pessoas fugiram do Iémen devido aos conflitos internos”

No actor named: The cause is given as 'internal conflicts', and no party to them is named — “devido aos conflitos internos”

Read it at Observador → https://observador.pt/programas/a-guerra-traduzida/donald-trump-aprova-…

UPI — independent

State Department approves sale of F-35 jets to Saudi Arabia

UPI names the State Department as the approver and calls it "a possible sale" of F-35 Lightning II jets. It does not mention Congress.

The U.S. Department of State approved a possible sale of 48 F-35 Lightning II fighter jets to Saudi Arabia in a deal worth $24.3 billion.

Hedged or stated flat: The body hedges the approval as a 'possible sale'. — “approved a possible sale of 48 F-35 Lightning II fighter jets”

Headline vs body: The headline drops the 'possible' that its own body carries. — “State Department approves sale of F-35 jets to Saudi Arabia”

Hedged versus stated: The State Department is named as acting, and the sale is called only possible — “The U.S. Department of State approved a possible sale of 48 F-35 Lightning II fighter jets to Saudi Arabia”

Read it at UPI → https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/09/18/state-department-saudi-arabi…

Checked, didn’t cover

International Criminal Court

UN News

Silence is recorded, not inferred — each of these was read when we built this story and carried nothing on this event.

We could not read these

International Court of Justice

These are must-cite outlets for this desk that we did not manage to read when we built this story. That is a gap in our reach, not a silence on their part, and it is not evidence of anything about this story.

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Observador says Trump approved the Saudi F-35 sale; UPI says the State Department approved a "possible sale"

The story so far

What is being argued about

Same numbers, different approver

Claims and verdicts

Who wrote it

Coverage, outlet by outlet