The State Department of US removed restrictions from Saudi Arabia weapons

The State Department announced that it would resume selling weapons “in regular order, with appropriate congressional notification and consultation,” more than three years after placing restrictions on shipments due to Saudi strikes in Yemen. Speaking to reporters, State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said, “Saudi Arabia has remained a close strategic partner of the United States, and we look forward to enhancing that partnership.”

When US President Joe Biden assumed office in 2021, he promised to prioritize human rights in his new approach to Saudi Arabia and declared right away that the US would only supply “defensive” weapons to the long-standing US arms supplier. As Iran threatens to exact more retaliation on Israel over the assassination of Hamas’s leadership leader in Tehran, the United States is once more looking to its Arab allies for backing.

The action was initiated when it was estimated that airstrikes conducted by Saudi Arabia against the Houthi rebels, who control a large portion of Yemen, had killed thousands of civilians, including children. The geopolitical landscape has, however, evolved significantly since then. Early in 2022, the US and the UN mediated a ceasefire in Yemen that has mainly remained in place. “Saudi airstrikes into Yemen have not occurred since the truce, and cross-border fire from Yemen into Saudi Arabia has largely stopped,” according to Patel. Since then, the Saudis have fulfilled their half of the agreement, and we are ready to do the same, according to Patel.

Saudi involvement in the Gaza conflict

The United States, the United Kingdom, and most lately Israel have been hitting Houthi targets in Yemen; Saudi Arabia content to watch from the sidelines.

In an apparent show of support for Palestinians, the Houthis have been launching missiles against commercial ships in the strategically important Red Sea.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has visited Saudi Arabia multiple times in an attempt to find a long-term solution, discussing a package of US incentives in exchange for the kingdom’s recognition of Israel.

Saudi Arabia has asked for continuous arms supplies, security assurances from the US, and possibly even a civilian nuclear agreement if it normalizes relations with Israel.

Normalization with Arab governments is a primary priority for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and no prize is as large as Saudi Arabia. However, Saudi Arabia asserts that it must move forward with the creation of a Palestinian state, a notion championed by the Biden administration in an effort to find a diplomatic solution.