Senior US lawmakers have asked the UK to fulfill its “moral responsibility” and help end both countries’ “complicity” in the Saudi Arabian war in Yemen, in a sign of the pressure the UK will face in Washington to join the Biden government and end arms sales to the kingdom.
In his first speech on foreign policy, US President Joe Biden announced last week that the United States would end support for the Saudi-led offensive in Yemen, including the sale of relevant weapons.
The question now is how far the government will go to pressure allies to take similar measures, especially in the UK, where British officials have revealed this week that the UK has authorized the export of almost £ 1.4 billion of weapons to Saudi Arabia between July and September.
Senator Ron Wyden, the Democratic chairman of the powerful finance committee and a leading critic of Saudi Arabia, said in a statement to the Guardian that he believed the United States should not “be in the business of selling weapons to governments with a history of use for committing atrocities. ”.
“American allies like the United Kingdom and France must follow suit immediately and stop allowing the Saudi regime,” he said.
Senator Chris Murphy, another Democrat who led the effort to end offensive US arms sales to Saudi Arabia, told the Guardian that he knew that many in the UK “share our concerns about arms sales that fuel the war in Yemen. ”.
“The respective economic benefits of these sales do not exceed our national security and moral responsibility to end the complicity in this continuing nightmare. The United States and the United Kingdom acting together are more powerful than any of us acting alone, and I hope that our governments can work together to prioritize a diplomatic resolution to the conflict in Yemen, ” he said.
The state department has so far refused to comment on the matter, and has not commented on the questions about whether the Biden government would pressure the Boris Johnson government to follow suit.
“We reinstated an interagency process for working out the details of individual cases, led by the White House and with all relevant agencies at the table, bringing experience, discipline and inclusion back to our policy making on these issues. We recommend that the UK government talk about its arms export policies, ”added the spokesman.
On Monday, the UK insisted it would not do the same, despite pressure from some high-profile conservative defenders. Foreign Minister James Cleverly said Biden’s decision was a matter for Washington alone.
Defense and policy analysts said it was too early to predict how much pressure Biden would try to exert on Johnson at a time when the United States was looking to strengthen its diplomatic relations around the world. It was also unclear to some whether the United States would seek to prevent American defense manufacturers from selling parts to UK defense companies that sell weapons to Saudi Arabia.
“I think any pressure on the UK will be done discreetly and privately,” said Kirsten Fontenrose, director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative and former senior director for Gulf affairs at the National Security Council under the Trump administration.
“[Biden] he cannot be more authoritarian than the previous president, and it would appear if he tried to pressure the UK to further damage its economy in a post-Covid economic recovery attempt, ”said Fontenrose.
She added that the Johnson administration would try to “maintain” its arms sales amid pressure from the UK defense industry to strike “as long as the iron is hot” and gain ground in the competitive arms market in Saudi Arabia after the U.S. left. .
“The UK facet of the Saudi deal raises complications that the Biden government is not yet ready to deal with,” said US defense analyst Loren Thompson.
“This government does not like the government of Saudi Arabia and does not consider it. But this goes against the interests and perhaps also the inclination of the British government. Britain is an important ally, so it will have to be reconciled, ”he added.
Raytheon, the third largest arms manufacturer in the world, told investors last month that it was removing a projected $ 519 million sale of an offensive weapon system to a Middle Eastern customer, but could not provide further details.
“Remember that the President of the United States is ultimately the biggest customer for these companies. He leads an executive branch that is the world’s largest buyer of arms and technology. So they will really have to be cautious in terms of what they say on the record, ”said Thompson.
While there are hundreds – if not thousands – of US suppliers of UK arms manufacturers, experts said they are unlikely to be affected by the US offensive weapons ban unless the United States takes steps to impose sanctions on Saudi Arabia. in the future.
In Washington, the Biden government has yet to deliver on its promise to release a non-confidential report on the murder of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Fontenrose and other experts said the details of that report, including whether it contains a “smoking gun” that proves Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the murder, can determine how the United States – and its allies – proceed.
“If the US wants to, they can put terrible pressure on the UK and the UK will have to give in,” said Roy Isbister, head of the weapons unit at Saferworld, an organization focused on conflict prevention.
If the United Kingdom does not follow suit, and if the United States is serious about its ambition to change Saudi Arabia’s policy, the United Kingdom could “potentially undermine” US policy, Isbister added.
“If the Saudis are to sustain their aerial engagement in Yemen, they need continued support from their suppliers. I have heard several people say that Saudi air forces begin to fall from the sky very quickly, unless they have support. “