Billions of dollars in arms shipments to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia initiated by the Trump administration were temporarily suspended by the Biden administration, multiple sources reported Thursday.
Trump repeatedly pushed through massive weapons deals with the Emiratis and Saudis despite opposition by the U.S. House of Representatives.
Congressional critics have claimed the high-tech weaponry could be used to prosecute Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen, which is home of one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
Now, Biden has the power to entirely block two of Trump's "farewell presents" to the two Arab nations: a half-billion dollar package of bombs for Saudi Arabia and a $23 billion-package for UAE that included the stealth F-35, America's most advanced combat aircraft.
The pause in arms sales, part of a broad evaluation of weapons transfers overseas, comes as newly installed U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken said he is seriously examining a terrorism label against the Houthi rebels of Yemen that his predecessor enacted moments before he left the White House.
According to a senior State department official, the halt in weapons sales is a "routine administrative action" typical to most any transition and intended to ensure the U.S.' strategic goals of "building stronger, interoperable, and more capable security partners" are met, HuffPost reported.
It is unclear how long the arms sales suspension will last. But the money at stake for the industry are significant: military officials have said the U.S. unloaded around $175 billion in weapons to foreign partners in fiscal 2020 alone.
Biden administration officials, congressional personnel and external national security luminaries are expected to publicly and privately debate the commander in chief's final decision on the arms sales in the months ahead.
