Trump Vetoed Senate’s Arms Sales Ban To Saudi Arabia

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On July 24^th, US President Donald Trump vetoed three separate bills aimed at limiting arms sales to Saudi Arabia, approved by Congress.

There were three separate veto messages that were the following:

• J. Res. 36:

“In particular, S.J. Res. 36 would prohibit licensing for manufacturing in Saudi Arabia of Guidance Electronics Detector Assemblies, Computer Control Groups, Airfoil Groups, Aircraft Umbilical Interconnect Systems, Fuses, and other components to support the production of Paveway II, Enhanced Paveway II, and Paveway IV munitions.  The misguided licensing prohibitions in the joint resolution directly conflict with the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States, which include strengthening defense alliances with friendly countries throughout the world, deepening partnerships that preserve and extend our global influence, and enhancing our competitiveness in key markets.  Apart from negatively affecting our bilateral relationships with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Italy, the joint resolution would hamper the ability of the United States to sustain and shape critical security cooperation activities.  S.J. Res. 36 would also damage the credibility of the United States as a reliable partner by signaling that we are willing to abandon our partners and allies at the very moment when threats to them are increasing.”

• J. Res. 37;

“In particular, S.J. Res. 37 would prohibit the issuance of export licenses for Paveway II kits to the UAE, the United Kingdom, and France.  The misguided licensing prohibitions in the joint resolution directly conflict with the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States, which include strengthening defense alliances with friendly countries throughout the world, deepening partnerships that preserve and extend our global influence, and enhancing our competitiveness in key markets.  Apart from negatively affecting our bilateral relationships with the UAE, the United Kingdom, and France, the joint resolution would hamper the ability of the United States to sustain and shape critical security cooperation activities with those partners. S.J. Res. 37 would also damage the credibility of the United States as a reliable partner by signaling that we are willing to abandon our partners and allies at the very moment when threats to them are increasing.”

• J. Res. 38;

“In particular, S.J. Res. 38 would prohibit the issuance of export licenses for the proposed transfer of defense articles, defense services, and technical data for the manufacturing of the Aurora Fuzing System for the Paveway IV Precision Guided Bomb Program.  The misguided licensing prohibition in the joint resolution directly conflicts with the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States, which include strengthening defense alliances with friendly countries throughout the world, deepening partnerships that preserve and extend our global influence, and enhancing our competitiveness in key markets.  Apart from negatively affecting our bilateral relationships with Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom, the joint resolution would hamper the ability of the United States to sustain and shape critical security cooperation activities.  S.J. Res. 38 would also damage the credibility of the United States as a reliable partner by signaling that we are willing to abandon our partners and allies at the very moment when threats to them are increasing.”

Each separate bill focuses on a different aspect of arms exports, as can be seen above.

Apart from the small differences in the citations above, the entirety of the bills is completely identical and it focuses on the increased “threat” Saudi Arabia is under – be it by the Houthis who appear to be constantly taking the upper hand in the Yemen Intervention or presumably by Iran, who are partaking in aggression so subversive that there’s absolutely no evidence of it.

Furthermore, all 3 statements finalized with the following, expressing the US’ unending concern for civilian life and the “peaceful resolution” (through airstrikes on specifically those civilians on the part of the Saudi-led coalition) of the Yemen intervention.

“The United States is very concerned about the conflict’s toll on innocent civilians and is working to bring the conflict in Yemen to an end.  But we cannot end it through ill-conceived and time-consuming resolutions that fail to address its root causes.  Rather than expend time and resources on such resolutions, I encourage the Congress to direct its efforts toward supporting our work to achieve peace through a negotiated settlement to the conflict in Yemen.”

The veto clears the sale of upwards of $8 billion worth of arms sales to the Kingdom and the UAE.

It should also be noted that since coming into office Trump has issued 5 vetoes (with these 3 included), two of them have already passed.

Congress may vote to override US President Donald Trump’s veto but that would need a two-thirds majority, in a US Senate that has a Republican majority.

His first veto happened on February 15^th and was related to the hysteria around the Mexico-US Border.

His second veto was related to the current topic – on April 16^th he vetoed a Joint Resolution to direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities in the Republic of Yemen that have not been authorized by Congress.

The measure was a joint resolution to end U.S. participation in Yemen’s civil war and denounce the Saudi-led bombing campaign there.

The override votes on both accounts failed to pass.

Meanwhile, the UAE said that its withdrawal of troops from the port of Hodeida as part of the Stockholm agreement would not mean a complete withdrawal of the country from Yemen. On December 13, 2018, the warring parties came to an agreement in Stockholm, Sweden, to withdraw their armies from in and around Hodeida and to allow a United Nations-backed team to take control over the port city.

So, the UAE “took a page of the US book” and meant that it wouldn’t actually withdraw when it said its withdrawing.

On the Iranian side, an unnamed US official told Fox News that Iran had test-fired a medium-range ballistic missile on July 24^th, which flew more than 100 kilometers from the southern part of the country to an area outside the capital, Tehran, in the north.

“We are aware of reports of a projectile launched from Iran, and have no further comment at this time,” a senior administration official told Fox News.

The test was an alleged Shahab-3 missile, which is based on a North Korean design, which also carried out a test a few days ago.

ILLUSTRATIVE

There’s no other information apart from that and Iranian national news agency IRNA has no report on the matter.

Meanwhile, in a lengthy report IRNA cited various Arabic outlets, including Iraqi “Al-ketabat” website, the Arabic website of Deutsche Welle, Egyptian al-Ghad network and London-based Ray Al-Youm. In the report, it claimed that the US is failing in its efforts to form an anti-Iran coalition, that it has completely failed on land and is now struggling at sea.

In relation to that, Germany’s Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, was cited by the RND Media Group as having said that Germany was ready to take part in a British plan for a European-led naval mission to ensure safe shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

A mandate for joining the mission would be voted on in parliament, RND added.

MORE ON THE TOPIC:

• Iran’s Qods Force And Modern Proxy Wars
• Iran’s Military Vows Attack On All Regional US Bases If War Starts
• Russia Provides Concept To Ensure Persian Gulf Security: Is Anybody Willing to Listen?

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