US to lift arms embargo on Saudi Arabia
Last Updated on May 27, 2024 11:03 am
US to lift embargo on sale of lethal weapons to Saudi Arabia In a report on Sunday (May 26), the British media reported this information, Financial Times. Reuters news.
The US has already signaled Saudi Arabia about the ban, the report said, citing a person familiar with the matter.
After taking office in 2021, US President Joe Biden took a strong stand against Saudi Arabia. He was particularly displeased with Riyadh’s human rights record and the Saudi military campaign against the pro-Iranian Houthi rebels in Yemen. Besides, in 2018, the US administration was against Saudi in the murder of journalist and political opponent of Washington Post, Jamal Khashoggi.
Due to the position of the Biden government, a ban on the sale of several types of weapons to Saudi Arabia, the largest buyer of US weapons, was imposed. Although the previous US government had been selling these weapons to Saudi Arabia for ages.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Wednesday that the US and Saudi Arabia are close to a series of agreements on nuclear energy, security, defense cooperation and normalizing relations between Riyadh and Tel Aviv.
However, according to the Financial Times, the lifting of the US ban on the sale of lethal weapons is not directly related to this discussion.
The White House and the Saudi government communications office did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.