Saudi Arabia is the biggest buyer of American-made weapons -

The United States is expected to lift a ban on the sale of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia, potentially in the coming weeks.

Washington has already signalled to Saudi Arabia that it was prepared to lift the ban.

Soon after taking office in 2021, Joe Biden adopted a tougher stance over Saudi Arabia’s campaign against the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen, which has inflicted heavy civilian casualties, and over Riyadh’s human rights record, in particular the 2018 killing of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post journalist and political opponent.

Saudi Arabia, the biggest US arms customer, has chafed under those restrictions, which froze the kind of weapons sales that previous US administrations had provided for decades.

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Last week, negotiators sought to complete a bilateral accord expected to call for formal US guarantees to defend the kingdom, as well as Saudi access to more advanced US weaponry, in return for halting Chinese arms purchases and restricting Beijing’s investment in the country.

Negotiators have been discussing US sales of F-35 fighter jets and other weapons to the Saudis as part of the deal, a US official said.

The potential sale of the F-35s to the Saudis was not guaranteed for a variety of reasons, but its inclusion in the discussions was significant because Riyadh has desired the stealthy fighter jet for years.

Any deal must satisfy a longstanding agreement with Israel that US weapons sold in the region must not impair Israel’s “qualitative military edge,” guaranteeing US weapons furnished to Israel are “superior in capability” to those sold to its neighbours.

Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said on Wednesday that the US and Saudi Arabia were very close to concluding a set of agreements on nuclear energy, security and defence co-operation, the bilateral component of a wider normalisation deal with Riyadh and Israel.

However, lifting the ban on offensive weapons sales was not directly linked to these talks, the Financial Times reported.

The White House and Saudi Arabia’s government communication office did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ request for comment.

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