The United States is selling $60-billion worth of aircraft to Saudi Arabia in a huge deal that will increase unease about a gathering arms race in the Middle East.
In what is the largest U.S. arms sale of its kind, Saudi Arabia has agreed to spend $30 billion up front on fighter jets and helicopters, with the rest following at an undisclosed date.
The two countries are also discussing a naval package potentially worth $30 billion, but the timing of that deal is not clear.
The deals are a coup for the Obama administration ahead of the mid-term Congressional elections. The aircraft contracts would benefit defence manufacturers in 44 states and help to protect 77,000 jobs.
Democratic party candidates are expected to come under severe pressure in the elections in part because of the high unemployment rate.
But congressional and Pentagon officials, speaking Monday on condition of anonymity because the transaction has not yet been formally announced, warned that key U.S. lawmakers would block the move.
"You can fully expect that a hold will be placed on this deal," said a senior congressional source.
A "hold" would come from the chair or ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee or Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which typically must sign off on arms transfers, and could change what is in the package.
The deal will also raise concerns about the militarization of the Gulf states and the Middle East which, in part, seems to be being driven by the Iranian nuclear program.
The rush by Iran toward nuclear weapons is prompting defence reviews across the whole region. Tehran says it wants nuclear technology for peaceful purposes only, but there is widespread doubt about the regime's intentions.
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