An initiative by Democratic US senators to stop a US arms deal with the United Arab Emirates has failed. The majority of the Republican-dominated Congress Chamber spoke out on Wednesday (local time) against a blockade of the $ 23 billion sale of F-35 fighter jets, drones and other weapons to the Emirates.
The arms business supports the US job market and strengthens the “friends” of the US, “who see common enemies and are working immediately to move their country and region in a significantly better direction,” said Republican Senator Roy Blunt.
The outgoing US President Donald Trump had threatened with his veto in the event of a blockade of the arms business by Congress. The House of Representatives and the Senate would then each have needed a two-thirds majority to overrule him.
The White House said the weapons would enable the emirates to “repel the increasingly aggressive behavior of Iran”.
The democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, Robert Menendez, agreed with the government regarding the threat from Iran. However, it is unclear which military threat should be responded to with the F-35 fighter jets and drones; he also pointed out the danger of a dangerous arms race. Critics fear that the weapons delivered to the Emirates could later be used in civil war countries such as Yemen or Libya.
Most of the senators had voted along the party lines. But there were several dissenters: The Democratic Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly voted against the blockade of the armaments deal, the Republican Rand Paul in favor.
Washington plans to sell up to 50 F-35 fighter jets and other weapons to the Gulf state. When announcing the deal, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo referred to the normalization agreement between Israel and the Emirates, which his government had brokered.
Israel had so far spoken out strictly against all US fighter jet deliveries to Arab states. In September, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dropped his concerns about the US arms deal with the Emirates.
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