US President Joe Biden
The Biden administration has put a temporary hold on several major foreign arms sales initiated by former President Donald Trump. Officials say that among the deals being paused is a massive $23 billion transfer of stealth F-35 fighters to the United Arab Emirates. That sale and several other massive purchases of US weaponry by Gulf Arab countries had been harshly criticized by Democrats in Congress.
The officials did not identify the other sales that had been temporarily halted.
The new administration is reviewing the sales but has not made any determination about whether they will actually go through, the State Department said. It called the pause a routine administrative action that most incoming administrations take with large-scale arms sales.
The department is temporarily pausing the implementation of some pending US defence transfers and sales under Foreign Military Sales and Direct Commercial Sales to allow incoming leadership an opportunity to review,ö the department said.
This is a routine administrative action typical to most any transition, and demonstrates the Administration's commitment to transparency and good governance, as well as ensuring US arms sales meet our strategic objectives of building stronger, interoperable, and more capable security partners, it said.
ALSO READ | US updates travel advisory to citizens for Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan
