WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US President Joe Biden’s administration has told Congress it continues to sell more than $ 23 billion worth of weapons to the United Arab Emirates, including advanced F-35s, armed drones and other equipment, congressmen said on Tuesday.
A State Department spokesman said the administration would go ahead with the proposed sales to the UAE, “even as we continue to examine the details and consult with UAE officials” on the use of weapons.
The Democratic president’s administration has broken off agreements reached by former Republican President Donald Trump to revise them. Sales to the Gulf nation were completed just before Trump left office.
The Trump administration told Congress in November that it approved the sale of the United States to the United Arab Emirates as a parallel agreement to the Abraham Accords, a US-mediated agreement in September in which the United Arab Emirates agreed to normalize relations with Israel.
In the last months of the Trump administration, Israel has entered into agreements with the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco as part of the agreements.
The $ 23.37 billion package contained products from General Atomics, Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon Technologies Corp., including 50 F-35 Lighting II aircraft, up to 18 MQ-9B Unmanned Aerial Systems and an air-to-air package. air and air-to-air land ammunition.
THE YEMEN CONFLICT
Some US lawmakers have criticized the UAE for its involvement in the war in Yemen, a conflict considered one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters, and feared that arms transfers could violate US guarantees that Israel would maintain a military advantage in the region.
Israel has said it does not oppose sales.
A legislative effort to stop sales failed in December as Trump’s Republican colleagues in Congress backed their plans.
The Trump administration then completed the massive sale to the UAE on January 20, about an hour before Biden was sworn in as president.
The Biden administration announced the review at the end of January, and the United Arab Emirates said it had anticipated the review and welcomed joint efforts to disqualify tensions and a renewed regional dialogue.
A State Department spokesman said Tuesday that estimated delivery dates for UAE sales, if implemented, were after 2025 or later.
The government anticipated “a robust and sustained dialogue with the UAE” to ensure a stronger security partnership, the spokesman said in an emailed statement.
“We will also continue to strengthen, together with the United Arab Emirates and all recipients of US defense articles and services, that US-based defense equipment must be secured and used properly in a manner that respects human rights. to fully respect the laws of armed conflict, “the statement said.
The Biden administration is also reviewing its policy on military sales to Saudi Arabia, including some Trump-era arms deals, in light of Saudi involvement in Yemen and other human rights concerns.
He did not publish the results of this review. In February, US officials told Reuters that the administration was considering canceling past transactions that raised human rights concerns and limiting future sales of “defensive” weapons.
Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, additional reporting by Mike Stone; Edited by Mary Milliken, Grant McCool and Rosalba O’Brien