DOHA, Qatar — President Trump received an eight fighter jet escort as Air Force One arrived Wednesday in Qatar for the second stop on his three-nation tour of the Middle East.
The show of respect one-upped the emirate’s neighboring frenemy Saudi Arabia, which provided a six-fighter jet escort Tuesday morning.
Journalists aboard Air Force One spotted four Qatari jets off the right side of the plane while White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt tweeted footage of four more to the left.
President Trump arrives at Hamad International Airport, in Doha, Qatar, May 14, 2025. REUTERS
Qatari jets escort Air Force One into Doha, Qatar, on May 14, 2025. Getty Images“You’re going to be surrounded by eight fighters, you know, in about seven minutes,” Trump said during a visit to the press cabin on the plane. “And you say, do we need them? And when they say, ‘yes’ that doesn’t make me feel good, right?
“Let’s assume there’s no threat. We have to assume that.”
Later at a state dinner with Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, Trump recounted: “We’re looking out the window. Everybody was amazed. It’s a little disconcerting when… you can read the pilot’s name on his helmet, and it’s pretty close, but they were great. They were great pilots, and it’s fitting that you have chosen the mighty Falcon as a symbol of your nation.”
Trump’s Mideast swing will include a stop in the United Arab Emirates as well, but no trip to Israel.
The president told reporters that his trip will be good for the Jewish state — after personally pressuring the leaders of Syria and Saudi Arabia to establish diplomatic relations.
“This is good for Israel, having a relationship like I have with these countries; Middle Eastern countries, essentially all of them. I think it’s very good for Israel,” Trump said.
