DefenceTalkThe United States formally approved defense contracts totaling more than $1 billion with Saudi Arabia on Thursday, as the kingdom’s crown prince continued his American tour. The State Department confirmed it had green-lighted a $670 million deal for anti-tank missiles, a $106 million contract for helicopter maintenance and $300 million for ground vehicle parts. An […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-approves-1-billion-in-saudi-defense-contracts-71581/

DefenceTalkCountries selling weapons to Saudi Arabia and its allies must answer for “war crimes” being committed in Yemen, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani told his French counterpart in a phone call on Sunday. “In Yemen we are witnessing war crimes and countries that provide weapons for Saudi Arabia and the Arab coalition must be answerable in […]https://www.defencetalk.com/arms-exporters-must-answer-for-yemen-war-crimes-irans-rouhani-71541/

DefenceTalkUS Ambassador Nikki Haley said today that it was “time for the Security Council to act” following the release of a report by UN experts concluding that Iran had violated the arms embargo on Yemen. The report found that Tehran had failed to block supplies to Yemen’s Huthi rebels of ballistic missiles that were fired […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-wants-un-action-over-report-on-iranian-missiles-to-yemen-71478/

DefenceTalkIgnoring the rumble of heavy artillery, Yemeni commander Nasr al-Dibani points at Huthi bases from a jagged clifftop, outlining his push to break a grinding stalemate on the frontline outside Sanaa. “Whoever controls Nihm controls Sanaa,” Dibani, flanked by armed loyalists, said from atop a newly captured hill, Al-Humra, on the outskirts of the Yemeni […]https://www.defencetalk.com/on-mountain-frontline-yemen-army-makes-push-for-sanaa-71406/

DefenceTalkIsrael’s military chief of staff said in an interview Thursday that his country was prepared to cooperate with Saudi Arabia to face Iran’s plans “to control the Middle East.” His comments were the latest sign that behind-the-scenes links between Israel and Gulf countries may be occurring due to Iran, their shared enemy, even though they […]https://www.defencetalk.com/israel-ready-to-cooperate-with-saudi-arabia-to-face-iran-defence-chief-70829/

DefenceTalkGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel’s administration has been criticized for massively increasing arms sales to Middle East dictatorships Saudi Arabia and Egypt. One opposition lawmaker branded the trade “reprehensible.” The German government approved nearly €450 million ($526 million) worth of weapons exports to Saudi Arabia and Egypt in the third quarter of 2017, more than five […]https://www.defencetalk.com/germany-quintuples-arms-sales-to-saudi-arabia-and-egypt-70815/

DefenceTalkThe United States government on Wednesday approved a $1.1 billion deal to service Qatar’s F-15 fighter jets despite the diplomatic stand-off between the Gulf emirate and its neighbors. Qatar, home to one of the largest US military bases in the Middle East, is locked in a bitter dispute with Washington’s other Arab allies in the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-approves-1-bln-qatar-arms-deal-despite-gulf-crisis-70725/

DefenceTalkThe Kremlin says an agreement to sell Russian missiles to Saudi Arabia does not pose a threat to any other country. Speaking on October 9, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the deal to supply the long-range S-400 air-defense missile systems to Riyadh “isn’t directed against any third country.” He was responding to a question asking […]https://www.defencetalk.com/kremlin-defends-missile-deal-with-saudi-arabia-70651/

DefenceTalkBased on the agreement reached between the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Government of the Russian Federation on the procurement of several armament systems, whereas the Ministry of Defense in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia signed contracts to procure: the S-400 air defense system, the Kornet-EM system [anti-tank guided missiles—Ed.], the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/saudi-arabian-military-industries-announces-mou-with-russia-70589/

DefenceTalkUS Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is in Saudi Arabia Wednesday to reinvigorate the Riyadh-Washington alliance, with both seeing a common adversary in Iran and its “destabilising” activities. The United States and Saudi Arabia have a decades-old relationship based on the exchange of American security for Saudi oil. But ties between Riyadh and Washington became increasingly […]https://www.defencetalk.com/mattis-in-riyadh-to-boost-us-saudi-alliance-69755/