Congress rebukes Trump over pro-Saudi stance
The US Senate came close to passing a bill prohibiting bomb sales to Riyadh for its war in Yemen amid growing concern about sectarian entanglement.
The US Senate on June 13 fell just four votes short of blocking arms sales to Saudi Arabia in a sign of growing unease about US involvement in the sectarian proxy war between Riyadh and Tehran.
Senators voted 53-47 against a motion from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., that would have prohibited the Donald Trump administration from selling $500 million worth of precision-guided munitions for the kingdom’s campaign against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. Last year, while Barack Obama was still president, a similar proposal to stop the sale of battle tanks to the Saudis only garnered 27 votes.
“I think this big vote against the arms sale is a reaction to a changed policy on Saudi Arabia,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told Al-Monitor. “Trump has embraced the Saudis in a way that is not helpful to the US national security interest and a lot of members reject that.”
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee member was one of the original co-sponsors of the resolution, which garnered the support of 43 Democrats and four Republicans. He pointed out that while Obama sold more weapons to the Saudis than all previous presidents combined, it came with an expectation that the Saudis’ fight for regional dominance with Iran would be curtailed.
