The Pentagon said Thursday it had conducted background checks on all Saudi military personnel currently training in the United States and found no “immediate threat scenario,” two weeks after a deadly shooting rampage by a Saudi air force officer. Defense Department officials had announced a security review following the attack, halting operational training for Saudi […]

Washington: The United States is weighing sending up to 14,000 more troops to the Middle East in the face of a perceived threat from Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The mulled deployment would include “dozens” more ships and double the number of troops added to the US force in the region since the […]

A US navy official visited Saudi Arabia to discuss maritime defence coordination following last month’s twin attacks on key oil facilities in the kingdom. Riyadh joined a US-led force to protect Gulf shipping as tensions with Iran soared after the September 14 attacks that temporarily knocked out half of the OPEC giant’s production. “The visit […]

The U.S. is sending additional military forces and air defense equipment to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the Pentagon said Friday night. The announcement came after last weekend’s attacks on Saudi Arabian oil installations for which U.S. officials said Iran was responsible, an allegation that Tehran denies. President Donald Trump “has approved the […]

Germany has extended its arms export moratorium on Saudi Arabia by 6 months. If parliament agrees, cabinet also plans to extend a Bundeswehr training mission in Iraq and reconnaissance flights tracking IS in Syria. Germany’s freeze on arms deliveries to Saudi Arabia begun last October andformalized in March would remain in place until March 2020, […]

Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to sell Saudi Arabia its missile defense systems on Monday in the wake of the attack on its oil facilities. “We are ready to help Saudi Arabia so that she can protect her territory. “She can do so in the same way that Iran has already done in buying the […]

President Donald Trump on Wednesday vetoed a trio of congressional resolutions aimed at blocking his administration from bypassing Congress and selling billions of dollars in weapons and maintenance support to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last month cited threats from Iran as a reason to approve the $8.1 […]

DefenceTalkThe government of the United Kingdom has halted the approval of arms exports licenses to Saudi Arabia, following a ruling by the Court of Appeal that British sales to the Saudi government are unlawful. On June 20, 2019, the U.K. Court of Appeal ruled that continued arms exports to Saudi Arabia are unlawful, as government […]https://www.defencetalk.com/uk-freezes-arms-export-licenses-to-saudi-arabia-following-court-ruling-72352/

DefenceTalkUS Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday he will visit Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for talks on the crisis sparked by Iran’s downing an American drone. “We’ll be talking with them about how to make sure that we are all strategically aligned and how we can build out a global coalition” […]https://www.defencetalk.com/pompeo-heads-to-saudi-arabia-uae-for-iran-crisis-talks-72344/

DefenceTalkA Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen intercepted a Huthi rebel drone targeting the kingdom, a spokesman said Wednesday, calling it another violation of an already fragile ceasefire in a key Red Sea province. The unmanned drone was shot down in Yemeni airspace after the Iran-aligned rebels launched it from Hodeida province, coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki […]https://www.defencetalk.com/saudi-led-coalition-intercepts-new-yemeni-rebel-drone-72330/