U.S. Arms Sale to Saudis Advances Amid Uproar
RIYADH (Dispatches) – The U.S. State Department notified Congress that it’s moving to issue a license for the sale of 7,500 precision-guided, air-to-ground munitions valued at $478 million to Saudi Arabia, according to two officials familiar with the issue.
Raytheon Technologies Corp. can sell the weapons directly to the Saudi regime after receiving the license, which will likely be issued before the Biden administration takes office Jan. 20.
Details of the proposed sale were informally briefed to lawmakers in January and drew the criticism of Democratic lawmakers who declined to clear the license.
Lawmakers and human rights groups have criticized the use of U.S. weapons by the Saudi military against civilian targets in Yemen, a conflict the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
But President Donald Trump has made the Saudi regime the centerpiece of his Middle East strategy, dismissing concerns about human-rights issues by saying the Saudis could just go spend their arms budget elsewhere.
He argues that blocking the arms sales "would weaken America’s global competitiveness and damage the important relationships we share with our allies and partners.”
Trump has also vetoed a series of measures that would have blocked the sale of billions of dollars of arms to the kingdom and its regional ally, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The moves come as President-elect Joe Biden has vowed to review the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia. Pushing the weapons sale forward now means it will be essentially wrapped up by the time Biden takes office on Jan. 20.
Last year, Trump’s administration sold $1.5 billion of an unspecified number of "enhanced” Paveways to Saudi Arabia.
Washington had sold about 8,000 earlier model Paveways as part of a 2015 deal that included about 5,000 other munitions to the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia has been Washington’s number one weapons buyer.
Raytheon Technologies Corp. can sell the weapons directly to the Saudi regime after receiving the license, which will likely be issued before the Biden administration takes office Jan. 20.
Details of the proposed sale were informally briefed to lawmakers in January and drew the criticism of Democratic lawmakers who declined to clear the license.
Lawmakers and human rights groups have criticized the use of U.S. weapons by the Saudi military against civilian targets in Yemen, a conflict the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
But President Donald Trump has made the Saudi regime the centerpiece of his Middle East strategy, dismissing concerns about human-rights issues by saying the Saudis could just go spend their arms budget elsewhere.
He argues that blocking the arms sales "would weaken America’s global competitiveness and damage the important relationships we share with our allies and partners.”
Trump has also vetoed a series of measures that would have blocked the sale of billions of dollars of arms to the kingdom and its regional ally, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The moves come as President-elect Joe Biden has vowed to review the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia. Pushing the weapons sale forward now means it will be essentially wrapped up by the time Biden takes office on Jan. 20.
Last year, Trump’s administration sold $1.5 billion of an unspecified number of "enhanced” Paveways to Saudi Arabia.
Washington had sold about 8,000 earlier model Paveways as part of a 2015 deal that included about 5,000 other munitions to the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia has been Washington’s number one weapons buyer.