WASHINGTON – The Biden government is reviewing some arms sales to Arab states in the Gulf approved by the Trump administration, including tens of billions of dollars in advanced fighter jets for the United Arab Emirates and precision ammunition for Saudi Arabia.
A State Department official speaking in the background said on Wednesday that the government was temporarily halting some arms sales and transfers, calling the action a routine action typical of presidential transitions.
But it drew unusual attention because the arms deals with Arab Gulf nations, approved in the last months of the Trump administration, were the subject of intense political debate even before the review. Some Democrats expressed hope on Wednesday that sales would be canceled, even when the government downplayed the review.
Democrats in Congress strongly opposed sales out of disgust at the role of Saudi Arabia and the Emirates in the strenuous Yemeni civil war, which inflicted great suffering on civilians, but failed to attract enough Republican support to block Congressional deals in December. Many Democrats began to pressure President Biden even before he took office to stop sales.
The deals in question include the sale of $ 23 billion to the Emirates from 50 F-35 fighters and 18 Reaper drones, which President Donald J. Trump approved in the fall as an incentive for the Emirates to normalize diplomatic relations with Israel as part of “Abraham Accords”, one of Mr. Trump’s most proud achievements.
In late December, the State Department approved the sale of $ 478 million in precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia, despite strong objections from Democrats, who said the bombs would certainly end up killing innocent civilians in Yemen. Trump administration officials consider the deal essential to support the Saudis in their fight against Iran-backed Houthis. The authorities have not provided full details of all the deals under review, but Trump has approved the sale of billions of dollars worth of weapons to the Saudis.
A senior government official said the review did not include a freeze on sales in the UAE deal. A Congress official familiar with the review said Saudi arms shipments would be halted during the review.
The news comes when many Democrats in Congress call for a reassessment of the United States’ relationship with the Gulf States, particularly Saudi Arabia. Mr. Trump and Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and senior adviser, worked in virtual tune with the Saudis and the Emirates. But Democrats say the war in Yemen and human rights issues, including the assassination of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018, call for a more skeptical relationship.
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, informing State Department journalists on his first full day of work, said the review was customary.
“When it comes to arms sales, it is typical at the beginning of a government to review any pending sales to make sure that those being considered are something that advances our strategic objectives and our foreign policy,” said Blinken.
In a statement posted on Twitter from his embassy, the Emirati ambassador to Washington, Yousef al-Otaiba, also highlighted the routine nature of the review.
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“As in previous transitions, the United Arab Emirates anticipated a review of current policies by the new government,” said Otaiba.
But Mr. Otaiba also presented a more detailed case for the deal – arguing, among other things, that “it allows the UAE to assume more of the regional burden for collective security, freeing up US assets for other global challenges, a long US bipartisan priority term ”.
Still, some Democratic congressmen said on Wednesday that the arms deal should – or most likely would – be canceled.
“This marks the end of US ambivalence in the face of unscrupulous human suffering in Yemen,” Representative Ro Khanna of California, a member of the Armed Services Committee and a staunch critic of arms sales to the Gulf States, said on Twitter. “We are no longer going to placate brutal dictators for political or personal gain. Excellent news from Biden. “
Senator Christopher S. Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, agrees.
“The weapons we sell to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were used to kill schoolchildren, transferred to extremist militias and fueled a dangerous arms race in the Middle East. This is the right move, ”he wrote on Twitter. “Now is the time to restart our relations with the Gulf allies.”
The Emirates for years joined Saudi Arabia to fight the Houthis in Yemen, but withdrew their forces in late 2019.
Dennis Ross, who managed Middle East affairs for four presidents, said the review was not surprising and typical of a new government. But he said the Biden government is eager to show “that it takes sales of advanced weapons seriously and wants to consider the implications of such sales, especially in a place like the Middle East.”
Ross predicted that the government would end up giving the green light to the deal with the Emirates, in part because Biden supported the diplomatic deal with Israel under which the planes were conditioned.
On Wednesday, Blinken called the Abraham Accords “a very positive development” and said the Biden government hoped to build them. But he said he wanted to review the business.
“We are also trying to make sure that we have a complete understanding of any commitments that may have been made to secure these deals,” said Blinken. “And this is something that we are looking at now.”
A bipartisan concern about the sale of the F-35, the United States’ most advanced fighter jet, is that it could threaten Israel’s military superiority in the Middle East. Under federal law, the United States must ensure that Israel maintains a “qualitative military advantage” over its neighbors. Trump administration officials insisted that high-tech stealth planes did not interfere with this goal, but did not publicly provide details to support his claim.
“The break in precision ammunition for the Saudis could be another statement,” added Ross. “The pause may be linked to statements that were made during the campaign about no longer supporting the Saudis militarily in their campaign in Yemen.”
Blinken also said last week during his confirmation hearing in the Senate that the United States would end its one-year support for the Saudi campaign in Yemen.
But Ross noted that the State Department condemned a missile or drone attack against Riyadh, allegedly launched by Yemen’s Hutile rebels, whose 2015 acquisition of the Yemeni capital drew Saudi Arabia and the Emirates into that country’s civil war.
The statement said the United States “would help our partner Saudi Arabia defend itself against attacks on its territory and hold those who try to undermine stability accountable.”
The report was contributed by Catie Edmondson, Lara Jakes, Mark Mazzetti and Eric Schmitt.