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Boeing had expected to receive a green light from its regulator on the years-delayed planes "very soon," CEO Kelly Ortberg told investors earlier this month. But Boeing said Saturday that last month it flagged a software glitch on some 737 Max aircraft that could affect certain landing procedures.

"We haven't concluded whether this is a safety-of-flight issue or not, but we will be delaying the 10 ... until we're satisfied that we don't have an issue here," FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said at a press conference on air traffic modernization in Washington, D.C., on Monday.

The FAA said in a statement that "safety dictates the certification timeline." It added that the agency was "following our safety review process to investigate this software glitch and won't hesitate to take action if needed."

Boeing shares extended earlier losses after Bedford's comments, shedding nearly 7% Monday, as investors assessed another delay after years of setbacks for the aircraft.

"We continue to follow the lead of the FAA as we work through the certification process," Boeing said in a statement.  

Boeing said over the weekend that the issue could occur with a vertical navigation system after an aircraft misses an approach and has to go around and line up to land again, such as in situations when there is an obstruction on the runway, for example. Both the company and Bedford said pilots are trained for those circumstances.

"The pilots remain in control of the airliner, train for these scenarios," Bedford said Monday. "The issue that we're looking at right now is the workload component."

The FAA certified the Max 7, the smallest of the family, last month. Those planes have the most updated version of the software, which the FAA is evaluating. It isn't clear how that could affect deliveries of those planes to customers like Southwest Airlines.

U.S. airlines said they don't have any Max aircraft with the issue, in part because they are allowed to revert to older software on those models, if needed, not the newer version that has the potential issue.

Bedford said Boeing had fixed a previous bug in the system but "unexpectedly ... introduced a new bug."

Boeing has been trying to move on from years of safety crises, including two crashes of the Max 8 in 2018 and 2019. A flight control system was implicated in those crashes.

Bedford added on Monday that unlike that system, this "doesn't take control away from the pilots."

The company had originally planned to start delivering the Max 10 in 2020 before those safety concerns and other problems delayed the plane. It is the last of the Max family waiting to be certified.

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The confirmation late on Monday came a day after the Israeli leader made the secret trip to the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi. The visit came a month before Israeli elections and amid controversy over reports alleging that Bin Zayed, known as MBZ, had warned Netanyahu that a major Hamas operation was likely just ahead of the attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

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“During the meeting, the two sides discussed bilateral relations between the UAE and Israel and ways to strengthen and develop them,” the official Emirates News Agency, WAM, reported on Monday. The meeting was earlier reported in the Israeli press.

Palestinian fighters killed at least 1,195 people in southern Israel during the attack and took around 250 captive. Israel’s response developed into a genocidal war on Gaza, in which at least 73,669 Palestinians have been killed.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on September 9 that the UAE president spoke to Netanyahu on the phone about 10 days before the attack, warning him of a threat made by then-Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar that he was preparing a “huge surprise”.

Bin Zayed had previously alerted Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence agency, the Haaretz report said.

Netanyahu’s office has denied that the prime minister received information ahead of the attacks.

Netanyahu said the following day that he would sue Haaretz, calling its report “fabricated” and “politically motivated”.

Warming relations

Relations between Israel and the UAE have warmed since the UAE signed the US-brokered Abraham Accords in 2020, which normalised ties between Israel and a number of Arab states.

United States Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said in May that Israel had deployed Iron Dome air defence batteries and personnel to the UAE to help defend against potential Iranian attacks.

Israel’s Channel 12 first reported on Netanyahu’s trip to the UAE over the weekend. Shin Bet said on Monday that it had filed a complaint with Israel’s military censor, saying the report endangered the prime minister and exposed the intelligence agency’s operational methods, The Associated Press news agency reported.

The allegation that the prime minister ignored a warning regarding the Hamas attack comes as Netanyahu is trying to secure his position in the upcoming Knesset elections, scheduled for October.

He has been trailing in the polls, facing a fierce challenge from former military chief Gadi Eisenkot. %!s()

“Using advanced steelmaking technology, the plant will produce some of the highest quality, most affordable steel anywhere in the world,” Trump said in the Oval Office, flanked by Iowa’s top Republicans.

The plant, which “they’ve already started building”, Trump said, will be built in eastern Iowa by the foreign-owned steelmaker Mesabi Metallics and is expected to cost about $15bn, according to a White House official. It aims to begin production in 2030, years after voters go to the polls in November.

In his announcement, Trump singled out Iowa’s Ashley Hinson, the Republican congresswoman who was in the Oval Office and who is running for the Senate seat being vacated by Joni Ernst, also in the room. “I saw some good polls just recently,” he told her. “Looks like you’re doing well.”

But the polls for that race are less rosy than Trump suggested. A Marist survey published last week found Hinson trailing Democrat Josh Turek by eight points in the conservative state, while an earlier Emerson College poll had Hinson narrowly ahead but found voters worried about tariffs. Democrats see the seat as one of four they need to retake the Senate.

Trump said the plant would run on iron ore from the company’s mine in Minnesota, which accounted for roughly 60% of iron ore production in the US in the 20th century. The president took the chance to attack that state’s Democratic governor, Tim Walz.

“They have one of the worst governors in history, a real stupid guy, but they do have good iron ore, which is more important, I guess,” Trump said. The two men have clashed over mining in the state, most recently over Walz’s August order halting permitting for mining projects near the Boundary Waters wilderness.

The Mesabi Metallics company itself, however, is owned by the India-based Essar Group, and US taxpayers are helping to pay for the expansion: the Export-Import Bank, a federal agency, will provide up to $10bn in financing.

When asked whether global outsourcing would be needed to build the plant, the chairman of Mesabi Metallics, Rewant Ruia, said “most of the critical materials” would come from the US but added “there are some materials that might be used that need to be imported for making and refining the highest quality steels”.

Still, the president credited his tariffs – the taxes the US charges consumers on imported goods – for the investment. “Everyone’s building their plant here because they don’t want to pay tariffs,” he said. “It’s really not that complicated. A lot of people say they don’t understand it, but they do. They just don’t like to give us credit.”

Trump said the project was “expected to create up to 6,000 new construction jobs, nearly 2,000 manufacturing and mining jobs, and add another $95bn to the US economy”. %!s()

The steel plant is planned to be built in Iowa and aims to begin production in 2030, a White House official told CNBC on condition of anonymity ahead of the Oval Office event.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the announcement earlier Monday morning.

Mesabi Metallics, based in Nashwauk, Minnesota, told CNBC the project will deliver "100% American steel: mined, melted and poured in Minnesota and Iowa."

The steel plant will use iron ore from Mesabi's mine on Minnesota's Iron Range, a more than $2.5 billion project that is just beginning production after roughly two decades in development. That project was beset by controversies and setbacks, including Essar Steel Minnesota filing for bankruptcy in 2016. Mesabi is part of the Essar Group, an Indian conglomerate.

The first phase of the Iowa steel plant is estimated to produce some 7.5 million tons per year, supporting up to 6,000 construction jobs, according to the White House. It is slated to eventually ramp up to 10 million tons annually and support at least 1,750 permanent jobs, the official told CNBC. The Minnesota mine project has reportedly created 200 full-time jobs out of an anticipated 350 total, according to Minnesota Public Radio.

Trump was joined in the Oval Office by Mesabi Metallics' CEO Joe Broking and Chairman Rewant Ruia, as well as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Export-Import Bank Chairman John Jovanovic and a number of Iowa elected officials.

Trump slapped 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports near the start of his second term, and then doubled them to 50%. The president, who strongly dislikes trade deficits and has criticized free-trade deals, has doled out a variety of heavy import duties as he seeks to boost domestic manufacturing.

Critics say the tariffs have played a major role in raising U.S. steel prices, which have recently hit multi-year highs.

But numerous steel trade groups on Friday sent a letter to Trump, crediting his steel tariffs with driving $47 billion in "announced and underway investment." They urged him not to weaken those tariffs, arguing that doing so would "put that progress at risk."

Lutnick said in the Oval Office that the plan is a "done deal." But complex, long-term construction projects can change drastically, or face insurmountable roadblocks, over their development cycles.

Construction on the Minnesota iron mine, for instance, was supposed to finish by 2016, prior to the company behind the project filing for bankruptcy, Minnesota Public Radio reported.

As president, Trump has previously touted projects that did not live up to their initial hype.

In his first term, Trump attended Taiwan electronics manufacturer Foxconn's groundbreaking for a planned $10 billion factory in Wisconsin, and praised the project as "the eighth wonder of the world." But in 2021, Foxconn reduced its planned investment to $672 million and cut the number of new jobs down to 1,454 from 13,000.

White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told CNBC in a statement on Monday's factory announcement, "President Trump is delivering on his promise to rebuild American industry, reshore manufacturing, and create new jobs."

"Today's announcement underscores the President's historic efforts to revitalize the U.S. steel industry —supporting local communities, strengthening supply chains, and protecting our national security," Rogers said. "After decades of decline, this President is restoring America's industrial competitiveness and securing trillions of dollars in new investment." %!s()