WASHINGTON (Dispatches) – The Biden administration has every intention of “moving forward” with the U.S.-UAE deal that would see the Persian Gulf nation purchase F-35 fighter jets, a senior U.S. official says.
Initially struck under the Trump administration, the UAE had requested to buy the U.S. fighter jet and other weapons, including armed drones, as part of the Abraham Accords deal, which saw the UAE normalize ties with the Zionist regime.
The deal is reportedly worth $23 billion and is currently being reviewed to ensure “that we have unmistakably clear, mutual understandings with respect to Emirati obligations … before, during and after delivery,” the U.S. official told reporters in a phone briefing.
But with delivery away and the Biden administration’s decision to review all foreign arms sales, skepticism over the deal surfaced in recent months.
“The Biden-Harris administration intends to move forward with those proposed sales,” Deputy Assistant Secretary for Regional Security Mira Resnick said.
She was speaking after she participated in the Dubai Air Show.
The Zionist regime initially tried to stop the prospective sale but then ended its opposition after getting so-called U.S. guarantees that the occupying regime’s military superiority would be preserved.
The regime said that any deal must satisfy an old agreement between Washington and Tel Aviv that any American weapons sold in the Middle East region must not weaken its “qualitative military edge.”
The outcome of the American presidential election did not please the leadership in Abu Dhabi. Like their counterparts in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the Zionist regime, Emirati officials have been supportive of most pillars of Trump’s foreign policy agenda in the Middle East.
Keen to avoid criticizing the human rights records of U.S.-friendly regimes, and always determined to increase American arms sales to regional actors such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the outgoing administration established deep relations with Abu Dhabi.
Although the UAE is likely in a position to work closely with the Biden administration, the change in U.S. leadership raises some concerns for Abu Dhabi.