What the U.S. arms deal with Saudia Arabia means

Riyadh and Washington put 9/11 behind them.

September 15, 2010 12:16 am | Updated 12:16 am IST

Arms purchases from the U.S. are central to the Saudi kingdom's strategy of asserting its military leadership in the Gulf and confronting Iranian influence. This U.S. deal includes significant offensive capabilities — thus the repeated warnings from Tehran about it being “destabilising”.

In public the Saudis and their partners in the Gulf Cooperation Council support using diplomatic means to tackle Iran's alleged nuclear ambitions, but express greater concern behind closed doors, diplomats say. Iran insists it seeks only civilian nuclear power, not weapons.

Relations between Washington and Riyadh were badly damaged by the 9/11 attacks and the identification of the Saudi origins of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda. But common strategic interests and pressures generated by the arms industry and the recession helped smooth differences. U.S. defence sales to the Gulf doubled from $19bn in 2001-2004 to $40bn in 2005-2008.

It is striking that this deal has met little opposition from the pro-Israeli lobbies, which in the past have worked to prevent the Saudis acquiring advanced equipment. Nowadays Saudi Arabia also supports the Arab peace initiative, which offers to recognise Israel in exchange for a Palestinian state. King Abdullah is said to have been convinced of the sincerity of the U.S. commitment to Riyadh and pushed the arms request despite his air force wanting to divide sales between the U.S. and Europe. Recent months have seen mounting tensions between Riyadh and Tehran, with Arab regimes pressing the U.S. to adopt a tougher stance. In a meeting with Hillary Clinton in Riyadh in February, foreign minister Saud al-Faisal stated that the Iranian nuclear threat demands “a more immediate solution” than sanctions. The package reflects the convergence of the strategic views of the U.S., Israel and conservative Arab states regarding Iran's alleged nuclear ambitions and bid for regional influence. But Saudi Arabia denies reports it has secretly agreed to allow Israeli planes through its airspace if they were sent to bomb nuclear sites in Iran.— © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2010

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.