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Biden administration ‘absolutely dedicated’ to sale of F-35 warplanes to UAE, says official
MEE workers
Tue, 11/16/2021 – 15:55
The Biden administration is “absolutely dedicated” to a proposed sale of F-35 fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates, regardless of the White Home slowing down the deal, a senior American official overseeing arms exports mentioned Tuesday.
Mira Resnick, a deputy US assistant secretary of state, advised The Related Press on the Dubai Air Present that the sale of fifty F-35 fighter jets – which was authorised by the Trump administration – will go forward as deliberate.
“We’re absolutely dedicated to the F-35 and transferring the F-35, which is a game-changer for the Emiratis,” she mentioned.
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“We’re working with them as we converse to be sure that there are clarifications to the varied assurances that have been made to the earlier administration.”
Washington’s plans to promote the fighter jets to Abu Dhabi got here days after the UAE agreed to normalise ties with Israel in White Home-brokered talks final August.
Till then, the US shunned promoting the F-35s to any nation within the Center East besides Israel, out of considerations it might injury Israel’s qualitative navy edge (QME), a authorized requirement for the US to make sure Israel maintains navy superiority within the area.
On Tuesday, Resnick mentioned she had heard no considerations from Israel or different allies over the F-35 sale. She additionally rebuffed claims that Gulf international locations have been trying to buy weapons from Russia as a hedge over American considerations about human rights within the area.
In a listening to with members of Congress in August, Resnick was questioned concerning the Biden administration’s resolution to tether arms gross sales to human rights.
Republican Senator Todd Younger warned that enacting “insurmountable limitations” to safety help might undermine Washington’s capacity to exert affect within the area and open the best way for arms gross sales from rivals like China and Russia.
“The F-35 is already on this area, whether or not it is Israelis flying the F-35, whether or not it is American F-35,” Resnick mentioned. “We wish the UAE to have the ability to function the F-35 in a manner that [they] may be our safety companions and to discourage threats, together with from Iran.”
Nobody can fill US function in area
Shortly after taking workplace, the Biden administration put the F-35 sale on maintain as a part of a wider overview of arms gross sales to Gulf allies just like the UAE and Saudi Arabia resulting from considerations over human rights and the warfare in Yemen.
Since then, critics have accused the White Home of backtracking on earlier pledges to carry international locations to account over allegations of rights abuses.
Biden himself pledged throughout his election marketing campaign to make Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman a “pariah” – to isolate him internationally – after US intelligence businesses mentioned they imagine he ordered the 2018 killing and dismemberment of Center East Eye columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
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However earlier this month, the White Home authorised the sale of 280 AIM-120C air-to-air missiles to Riyadh, the primary main arms sale since Biden took workplace.
“We have now labored with Saudi Arabia to be sure that they can defend themselves. We all know that there are issues in… this relationship and in relationships across the globe,” Resnick mentioned.
In recent times, regional international locations like Turkey, the UAE and Saudi Arabia have tried to develop their very own arms industries, whereas China and Russia have additionally stepped up arms gross sales to long-time US allies like Egypt.
Resnick brushed apart efforts by Russia to advertise a few of its arms in Dubai, telling the AP that Moscow’s trumpeted Checkmate fighter jet had “not within the least” ever come up in discussions with Emirati officers.
“We have now not seen any strategic competitor be capable of fill the form of function that we play right here within the area,” she mentioned.
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