Colombia signs $4.3bn deal to buy 17 Swedish fighter jets amid tensions with US
Iran Press TV
Saturday, 15 November 2025 11:11 AM
Colombia has announced a $4.3bn deal to buy 17 Swedish-made fighter jets amid tensions with the United States.
Speaking on Friday, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said the purchase of warplanes is a "deterrent weapon to achieve peace," amid "messy" geopolitics, confirming the deal with Sweden's Saab aircraft manufacturer to buy the Gripen fighter jets.
Petro said the new fighter jets will be used to dissuade "aggression against Colombia, wherever it may come from."
"In a world that is geopolitically messy," Petro said, such aggression "can come from anywhere."
Several Latin American states are on edge due to a US military build-up in the region as US forces carry out a campaign of deadly attacks on vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.
Without providing any evidence, Washington falsely accuses Latin American states such as Venezuela, claiming they are to blame for not actively stopping drug trafficking from Colombia to the United States.
Till now, American military forces have targeted Latin American vessels in their 20 confirmed attacks that have killed about 80 people so far in international waters.
Latin American leaders, legal scholars, and rights groups have criticized the US for carrying out extrajudicial killings of people who should face the courts if suspected of breaking laws related to drug smuggling.
US President Donald Trump also claims that both Petro and his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro, are involved in the regional drug trade, which both leaders have strenuously rejected.
Media reports from the United States repeatedly warn that the US military forces are preparing to strike more targets in Latin American states.
However, Trump, on October 31, denied that he was considering strikes against targets inside Venezuela.
He contradicted his own earlier assertion of considering the possibility of launching strikes on the territory of this country.
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