Reuters: Biden seeks to lift the ban on the supply of offensive weapons to Riyadh.
The Reuters news agency, citing 4 knowledgeable sources, reported that the Biden administration is considering lifting restrictions on the supply of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia.
The Reuters news agency reported in an exclusive report, citing four informed sources, that the administration of US President Joe Biden is discussing the possible lifting of the ban on the sale of US offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia, but apparently any final decision depends on Riyadh’s progress towards the end. Giving depends on the war in Yemen.
On the eve of Biden’s visit to Riyadh this week, three informed sources said that Saudi officials have pressured their American counterparts in several meetings in Riyadh and Washington in recent months to abandon the policy of selling only defensive weapons to Riyadh.
Two sources familiar with the matter also told Reuters that internal US talks were informal and in the early stages, and that no decision was imminent. A US official also told Reuters that there were no discussions with Saudi Arabia about supplying offensive weapons “at this point in time”.
However, Reuters continued, as Biden prepares for a highly sensitive diplomatic trip to West Asia, he has sent signals that he is seeking to repair strained relations with Saudi Arabia in a situation where he wants to increase the supply of Persian Gulf oil and closer relations between Arab countries with The Zionist regime is to confront the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Congressional advisers say that any move to lift the restrictions on the supply of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia will definitely bring opposition from Congress and even opposition from Biden’s Democratic allies.
According to a Reuters report, as soon as he assumed the presidency of the United States of America early last year, Biden took a tougher stance against Saudi Arabia’s aggression in Yemen, and the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi critic and Washington Post reporter, in 2018. The Saudi consulate in Turkey also provoked a lot of criticism in the international community against the Riyadh government.
