New York – Pak Sahafat – The US State Department has announced that it will support the sale of air-to-air missiles to Saudi Arabia worth $ 650 million.
The State Department claimed that the sale of the missiles to Saudi Arabia would help defend against cross-border drone strikes that endangered Saudi and US personnel.
The State Department also announced its decision to Congress. Congress can oppose the sale of these Rationon AIM-120C missiles.
According to Bloomberg website: A State Department spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Biden government was seeking to help Saudi Arabia replenish missile stockpiles and stressed that the missiles would not be used to hit targets on the ground.
The use of American missiles to target civilian targets in Yemen by Saudi fighter jets has caused much criticism and concern for lawmakers and human rights defenders.
Read more: Rise to Saudi Arabia to buy the Iron Dome after the departure of the American Patriots: https://www.paksahafat.com/en/?p=12059
In April 1994, Saudi Arabia launched a large-scale offensive against Yemen, the poorest Arab country, in the form of a coalition of several Western and Arab countries, with US assistance, under the pretext of returning ousted fugitive President Abd al-Mansour Hadi to power.
The aggression has killed thousands of Yemenis so far, and according to the United Nations, the famine in the country has become the biggest humanitarian catastrophe in the world.
UNICEF has announced that out of four children in five, about 11 million are in need of humanitarian assistance in Yemen, while 400,000 children are severely malnourished and two million are out of school.
The decision to sell the missile to Saudi Arabia also comes as US-Saudi relations soured after the assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashgechi. The assassination called into question US relations with Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Washington.
The deal to sell the missiles to Saudi Arabia also comes as US President Joe Biden seeks to persuade Saudi Arabia and other oil producers to increase production amid rising world energy prices.