Blinken Says US Ready to Move Forward with Sale of F-35s, Drones to UAE

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that Washington is prepared to move forward with the sale of F-35 fighter jets and drones to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The announcement comes after reports that the UAE intended to suspend discussions of the deal.

Speaking at a news conference in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, Blinken said that the US conducted some reviews of the arms sale but that they are ready to move forward with the deal.

“We’ve wanted to make sure, for example, that our commitment to Israel’s qualitative military edge is assured, so we wanted to make sure that we could do a thorough review of any technologies that are sold or transferred to other partners in the region, including the UAE,” Blinken said.

A UAE official on Tuesday told Reuters it informed the US that it would suspend discussions to acquire F-35 fighter jets, part of a $23 billion deal that includes drones and other advanced munitions.

The major weapons purchase was announced after the signing of the so-called Abraham Accords last year at the White House, which normalized relations between the Zionist entity and the Gulf state along with Bahrain and the later additions of Morocco and Sudan.

The deal includes up to 50 F-35 aircraft, 18 MQ-9B Reaper drones, and air-to-air and air-to-ground munitions.

An earlier report on Tuesday in the Wall Street Journal said the Emiratis were concerned that security requirements to prevent Chinese espionage were too burdensome.

“Technical requirements, sovereign operational restrictions, and cost/benefit analysis led to the re-assessment,” the UAE official said in a statement to Reuters.

Source: Agencies

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