US, France, Germany impeding arms trade between EU, Gulf states: Iran
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The Iranian Intelligence Minister says the US has been using its influence over Gulf states to prevent them from engaging in weapons deals with the European nations.
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Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib
Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib pointed out on Wednesday that the United States and several European countries, including France and Germany, are using their influence to control weapons trade in the Gulf region and prevent Arab countries from reaching arms agreements with the EU.
Iranian news agency IRNA quoted Khatib as saying that Tehran obtained documents that prove the US has been using its influence over the Arab Gulf states to "prevent them from engaging in lucrative weapons and trade deals" with the European nations.
"This means that the Americans have taken Europe hostage, and specifically France and Germany," the Iranian Minister considered.
Khatib said EU states, such as Germany and France, had supported the US in its anti-Iran stances to gain concessions from Washington on other international issues, indicating that the European powers "have lost their traditional sense of independence."
It is noteworthy that on the same day that the UN announced the extension of the truce between Yemen and the Saudi coalition in early August, the Biden administration approved a possible multibillion-dollar weapons sale for Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
In early June, an article in the Washington Post revealed that the United States continues to provide weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Although in 2021 the Biden administration announced the end of US military support of "offensive operations" conducted by the Saudi coalition against Yemen, maintenance contracts operated by the US military and the US corporations, in addition to squadrons, remained to carry out offensive operations, as proposed by the Post.
US support for the war on Yemen began during the Obama administration and continued into Biden’s.
