THE United States is expected to end the ban on the sale of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia in the coming weeks or days.
In a major policy shift, Washington is getting ready to remove the restriction concerning the transfer of offensive weaponry to Riyadh amid warming ties between the two countries.
U.S. President Joe Biden initially imposed the ban in 2021 in response to Saudi Arabia’s military campaign against Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen and the assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 which made headlines worldwide.
The oil-rich country in the Persian Gulf is the largest buyer of U.S. weapons, with more than $84.3 billion in arms supplies as of September 2023.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week said that Washington and Riyadh were very close to finalizing agreements on various industries such as nuclear energy, security, and defense cooperation.
On the other hand, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that the agreements would also include advanced weapons and U.S. Defense guarantees for the Gulf nation.
The potential sale of f-35 jets and a nuclear agreement are also on the horizon.
The attack launched by the terror group Hamas against Israel on October 7 delayed the peace deal negotiations between Saudi Arabia and the Jewish state which was anticipated to take place last year.
Steven Cook, senior fellow at the council on foreign relations called the agreement “extremely important” that sends a strong message to Iran that supports the Houthis, and likely surpasses Saudi Arabia’s current relations with China.
The lifting of the ban on offensive weapons and a looming security agreement with Saudi Arabia are being worked on ahead of the 2024 U.S. Presidential Elections in November.
The latest development comes as United States and Saudi Arabia have been working on a plan to sign a security deal that will later include a normalization deal between the Arab nation and Israel.
