Peace, or arms deal
The world was taken by a surprise when a US-brokered deal that saw Israel and the United Arab Emirates begin to open diplomatic ties became a reality. The peace deal as many in the Arab world and the west called it-however is proving to be an arms deal as the US has already notified that it will sell advanced American weaponry to the UEA.
US President Donald Trump has gone on record saying that the Emiratis had expressed interest in buying quite a few F-35 stealth fighter jets and such a deal was under review.
The UAE has sought for years to buy American armed drones something now potentially allowed as the Trump administration loosened rules governing those purchases just last month. The sale of fighter jets that cost over USD 100 million a plane to UEA is the beginning.
The UAE showed its interest in the F-35 as its pilots have seen the fighter jet in action in and out at the Al-Dhafra Air Base near Abu Dhabi since 2019. The Emirati air force has dozens of F-16s and French-made Mirage 2000s already in service.
The sale of fighter planes and modern weaponry to UEA signals a longstanding Israeli military edge regionally and the balance of power with Iran in the Gulf region. The F-35s would provide a far-greater edge to UEA over Iran, whose air force largely dates back to purchases made before the 1979 Islamic Revolution and includes some locally built aircraft.
The F-35’s stealth capability also makes it far more difficult for Iranian anti-aircraft batteries, to pick it up in case of any skirmish or war.
The Emiratis are as of now defending the deal stuck with Israel and are harping on the UAE-Israel agreement to eventually including a security and defense aspect. They believe that there is no doubt that the latest accord removes any political impediment that stands against the cooperation of the defense forces.
The arms deal is not going to end with the purchase of fighter jets alone. The UAE also has repeatedly sought to purchase armed American Reaper drones. It already has used Chinese-made armed drones on the battlefield in Yemen, where the Emirates joined a Saudi-led coalition fighting the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels there who hold the capital. That war, which began in 2015, has become the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
The addition of modern day weaponry to the UEA’s armor will only make things worse and complicated for the entire Gulf region and this sinister plan by the US needs to be nipped in the bud.
Though complicated arms deals take lot of time to get executed but the measures adopted by the Trump administration are enough indications that they plan to arm the UEA to teeth.
Interestingly, the UAE’s autocratic government has considered Iran its top regional threat and recent tensions between Tehran and Washington have seen a series of incidents near it. Empowering anti-Iran forces in the Gulf cannot in any way fulfill the agenda the US administration is mulling to accomplish. The move will spell yet another disaster.
KV Network
