Lifting the US arms embargo on Saudi Arabia, what are the affects and objectives?

In light of the fragility of the ceasefire agreement in Yemen and the posting of daily reports about the violations against the truce carried out by the forces of the coalition of aggression, US arms sales were one of the main factors for starting the aggression of the Saudi-led aggressive coalition against Yemen in 2015. As they insist on continuing the aggression that has been going on for over 7 years, the humanitarian catastrophe in this poor country has increased. After Biden’s first visit to Saudi Arabia and the lifting of the US arms embargo on Riyadh, the danger of the cease-fire agreement collapsing and the resumption of the diabolical war is more prominent than in the past.

The role of the US government’s comprehensive military and political support for Saudi Arabia, and persuading Riyadh to take a gamble unprecedented in contemporary history to engage directly in a large-scale foreign war, has been very prominent ever since. With the beginning of the Yemen crisis, the Yemeni authorities repeatedly emphasized that this war is American and considered the US responsible for the crimes of Saudi Arabia and the UAE in Yemen. This role has existed since the beginning of the revolutionary developments in Yemen with Washington’s support for the intervention plan and the so-called “Gulf Initiative” in 2011 to divert the course of the revolution. The US then played a role in approving Security Council Resolution No. 2216 and supporting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with arms sales, which caused a disaster that lasted for several years in Yemen.

Now, although one of the Biden government’s slogans about US regional policy in West Asia was to end the war in Yemen, the media has now reported the possibility of resuming offensive arms sales to the Saudis during the US president’s first visit to the region. The US news agency Reuters, quoting several sources in the US State Department, revealed that in recent months, during several meetings in Riyadh and Washington, senior Saudi officials confronted their American counterparts over their request to cancel Washington’s policy, and allow defensive arms sales to them. In early February 2021, the White House announced that it would end its support of the “aggressive operations” in the war, including military arms sales to Saudi Arabia. This action, along with the removal of the name “Ansar Allah” from the list of extremist groups led to the deterioration of relations between the two countries at that time.

This action came in light of the fact that the United States government was the main supplier of arms to the Saudi coalition during the 7-year aggression against Yemen. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, from 2015 to 2019, the United States provided 73% of Saudi Arabia’s arms needs, and arms sales to Saudi Arabia accounted for 25% of total arms exports by the United States in these years.

Any move to repeal the restrictions on assault weapons is sure to provoke opposition in Congress, both from members of Biden’s Democratic Party or from the opposition Republican Party, who have strongly criticized Saudi Arabia. Shortly after taking office last year, Joe Biden took a tougher stance on Saudi Arabia’s campaign against Sanaa forces, which led to heavy civilian casualties. Strictness also affected Riyadh’s human rights record, especially after the killing of the political dissident and Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

When Biden was a presidential candidate, he described Saudi Arabia as a “pariah” and announced in February 2021 the cessation of US support for offensive operations in Yemen, including “related arms sales.” Saudi Arabia, the largest customer of US arms, was angry at the restrictions that froze the type of arms sales that previous US administrations had supplied to Riyadh for decades. Biden has softened his stance since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in March, which prompted the United States and other Western countries to appeal to Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, to pump more oil to make up for the lost Russian resources.

The White House also praised Saudi Arabia for agreeing in early June to extend the UN-brokered truce in Yemen by two months, the scene of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Washington now wants this to turn into a permanent cease-fire. According to a person familiar with the matter in Washington, the US administration has begun internal discussions about the possibility of lifting restrictions on arms sales to Saudi Arabia, but indicated that it has not yet reached the decision-making stage. Another source said it was not the first time that such a request had been made. Saudi officials also raised the request during Saudi Deputy Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman’s visit to Washington in May.

political openness with arms sales; Oil for weapons

Although the role of American military support for Saudi Arabia was very important at the beginning of the seven-year military aggression on Yemen, it is certain that among the reasons and motives for Riyadh’s inclination to cease fire, the most important factor was the military deterrent power of Ansar Allah, especially for their use of missiles and drones, which, since 2019, has made it possible to target the vital economic infrastructure of Saudi Arabia, and all aerial defensive weapons for the Saudis have failed to prevent these attacks. Indeed, the stalemate of Saudi military operations in Yemen and the heavy costs of continuing the war each day by the Saudis have put the Saudi coalition in a desperate state. Especially because of the missile and drone attacks on Aramco’s oil facilities, which made Riyadh more than Sanaa in need of a ceasefire.

In this regard, Reuters announced that Biden will continue to pursue a policy of ending the war in Yemen during his trip. Washington is well aware of the fact that ending the ceasefire could in fact lead to a new wave of missile and drone attacks against Saudi oil facilities, and reducing Saudi oil production would spell disaster for the global economy.

The truth is that the United States needs to increase Saudi Arabia’s production of oil as a result of the growth in the world price of this strategic product and, on the other hand, to push the plan to normalize relations with the Zionist regime in the Persian Gulf region. As the US tries to implement a regional alliance of Western and Arab allies in the region, the White House pushed to circumvent some of its previously stated policies against Saudi Arabia, particularly on the issue of human rights and arms sales. Therefore, it must be said that arms sales to allies have always been one of Washington’s main tools in advancing its regional policies, especially for confronting the axis of resistance and Iran.