US Reportedly Considers Lifting Ban on Sale of Offensive Arms to Saudi Arabia

In February 2021, Joe Biden, who as a presidential candidate vowed to make Saudi Arabia a "pariah” state, declared a halt to US support for the Kingdom’s offensive operations in Yemen, including “relevant arms sales” to Riyadh.

The Biden administration is considering lifting a ban on US sales of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia, Reuters has cited unnamed sources as saying.

The sources added that any final decision would depend on whether Riyadh makes progress toward ending the armed conflict in neighboring Yemen.

Since March 2015, the Saudi-led Arab alliance, in cooperation with former Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s forces, has been conducting air, land and sea operations against the Houthis. The protracted conflict has left more than 300,000 people dead and brought about a major humanitarian crisis in the country.

At the same time, the insiders claimed that “the internal US deliberations are informal and at an early stage, with no decision imminent.”

According to them, there were no discussions on offensive weapons between Washington and Riyadh under way “at this time.”

Reuters also quoted unnamed US congressional aides as claiming that any move to scrap restrictions on offensive weapons will most likely draw opposition in Congress, including from Biden’s fellow Democrats and opposition Republicans, who have been vocal critics of Saudi Arabia.

Since the start of the Biden administration, ties between Saudi Arabia and the US have grown increasingly strained, splintering more after the White House’s announcement in February 2021 that the US government would no longer support the Saudi-led military operation in Yemen against the Houthi movement and would cut sales of offensive weapons to Yemen, including precision-guided munitions (PGM).

Last month, however, senior US officials told their Saudi partners that the US is willing to "reset" the bilateral relationship and successfully move on from the 2018 murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in order to mend ties with the crucial Middle East ally.

In 2021, a US intelligence report claimed that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman approved an operation to "capture or kill" Khashoggi, an assessment based on the crown prince's "control of decision-making" in the kingdom. Even though the Saudis vehemently denied any involvement of the royals in Khashoggi's murder, the Biden administration pledged to hold Riyadh “accountable for human rights abuses”.

Khashoggi went missing in October 2018 after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Riyadh initially denied any knowledge of the journalist's whereabouts but eventually admitted that he had been killed inside the diplomatic mission's building in a “rogue operation.” The Saudi government sentenced several people over their role in Khashoggi's murder and has repeatedly denied allegations that members of the royal family were involved in the incident.