uae: UAE suspends talks on $23 billion weapons deal with US

The United Arab Emirates on Tuesday suspended talks on a $23 billion deal to buy American-made F-35 planes, armed drones and different gear, in a uncommon dispute between Washington and a key US ally within the Persian Gulf. The Emirati embassy in Washington stated it will “droop discussions” with the US, although conferences on the Pentagon this week between the 2 sides on different issues will transfer ahead as deliberate.

“The US stays the UAE’s most well-liked supplier for superior defence necessities and discussions for the F-35 could also be re-opened sooner or later,” the embassy stated in an announcement.

The proposed sale of fifty F-35s to the UAE got here on the finish of former President Donald Trump’s administration, rising from a deal that noticed the Emiratis formally recognise Israel.

President Joe Biden’s administration put the deal on maintain after he took workplace, partly on account of criticism of the UAE and Saudi Arabia over their yearslong struggle in Yemen, which has sparked one of many world’s worst humanitarian crises and continues immediately.

Additionally included within the deal are 18 superior drone programs and a package deal of air-to-air and air-to-ground munitions.

Emirati officers blame an American insistence on restrictions on how and the place the F-35s could possibly be used and say they’re a violation of the UAE’s sovereignty.

The State Division stated in an announcement that the administration “stays dedicated to the proposed gross sales…whilst we proceed consultations to make sure that now we have a transparent, mutual understanding of Emirati obligations and actions earlier than, throughout, and after supply.”

An individual accustomed to the matter stated the US believes the Emiratis’ transfer now’s a negotiating tactic to attempt to transfer the method alongside. The individual, who was not approved to remark and spoke on the situation of anonymity, stated the UAE letter notifying the US of the suspension was written by a comparatively low-level official.

The Wall Road Journal first disclosed the suspension of negotiations.

The UAE has lengthy labored with the US on counterterrorism and allowed the entry of individuals fleeing Afghanistan in the course of the chaotic US withdrawal earlier this 12 months. However tensions between Washington and Abu Dhabi have risen over the UAE’s rising cooperation with China.

Final week, a high Emirati diplomat acknowledged the UAE stopped development on a Chinese language facility at an Abu Dhabi port that America thought of a army base. The Journal first revealed the presence of the alleged facility.

“We took these American issues into consideration and we stopped the work on the amenities,” the diplomat, Anwar Gargash, informed a gathering of the the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. “However our place stays the identical, that these amenities had been not likely army amenities.”

He described the discussions between the UAE and the US “as fairly frank”.