US President Donald Trump has blocked an attempt by Congress to stop arms deliveries to Saudi Arabia. The Senate did not have a sufficient majority to break Trump’s veto of a corresponding trade ban. The government announced in May that it would close the deal with a volume of eight billion dollars (7.2 billion euros), bypassing the congress.
No two-thirds majority in the Senate
Among other things, the law was intended to block the delivery of Raytheon missiles. Many MPs criticize the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, however, will receive new arms shipments from the United States, as Trump has requested.
In the Senate, the required two-thirds majority was missed in votes last night (local time) to block deliveries against the wishes of the President.
The Congress had initially voted in favor of a blockade of the billionaire arms deals. However, Trump vetoed last week’s decisions against the MEP’s decisions. To override the veto, the votes of two-thirds of the senators would have been necessary. The Senate is dominated by Trump’s Republicans. The achievement of the necessary majority was from the outset unlikely.
Criticism of military service in Yemen
In the Parliament, arms deals were viewed with great skepticism over the military operation carried out by Saudi Arabia and the Emirates in Yemen. There was also criticism over the actions of the US government in the case of the killed Saudi journalist Jamal Khashukchi, who had lived in the United States. He was assassinated in 2018 at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by a special detachment from Riyadh.
