Biden Freezes Arms Sales to Saudi Arabi and UAE
The Claim
Biden administration temporarily freezes arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
News posted on
Emerging story
On Twitter, @Intel_Sky posted news that the “Biden administration temporarily freezes arms sales to Saudi Arabia Flag of Saudi Arabia and the UAE.”
Twitter users responded by questioning the decision and wondering what other decisions it could lead to.
One user suggested that it “is a normal procedure” and “just accounting stuff.”
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation found this claim to be true.
According to Forbes, the freeze will temporarily hold up at least two arms deals that were made by the Trump administration in the final month of his presidency. The first deal was to sell 7,500 precision-guided bombs to Saudi Arabia for $478 million. The second deal was to sell up to 50 F-35 joint strike fighter aircraft and 18 MQ-9 Reaper drones to the United Arab Emirates, estimated at a $23.37 billion value.
A State Department spokesperson told Forbes, that an action such as this is a routine action for a new administration. The UAE Embassy was expecting this move by the Biden administration, tweeting on January 27th, “the UAE anticipated a review of current policies by the new administration. Specifically, the F-35 package is much more then selling military hardware to a partner.”
U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken also confirmed that temporarily freezing pending arms sales is typical at the start of a new administration "to make sure that what is being considered is something that advances our strategic objectives, and advances our foreign policy."
It seems that these arms sales will be frozen until a full review of them is completed by the Biden administration.
