December 7 (SeeNews) - The United States is blocking a $500 million (405.7 million euro) deal for the sale of 12 F-16 multi-purpose combat aircraft to Croatia by Israel, according to Israeli media reports.
The Trump administration was angry that Israel added advanced electronic systems to the F-16s to sweeten its bid for the sale of the jets to Croatia, Israeli private TV broadcaster Channel 10 quoted unnamed government officials as saying on Thursday.
Washington believes that Israel acted unfairly, as the F-16s are US-made and are not supposed to be sold to a third party without a US consent, the officials said.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu raised the question during his recent meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Brussels, Channel 10 said.
In March, NATO member Croatia agreed to acquire 12 F-16s from Israel to replace its ageing fleet of Russian-made MiG-21 fighter jets. Croatia would pay the price in 10 equal annual instalments, prime minister Andrej Plenkovic said back then.
The Israeli offer was selected in an international tender which also attracted bids from Greece, Sweden and the United States.
($=0.812633 euro)