Antony Blinken reviews Gulf arms deals, starts long path with Iran

New US Secrtary of State Antony Blinken has signalled a fresh look at US policy in the Middle East.

Yemenis in the city of Taez on Thursday rally in support of the Trump administration's designation of the Houthis as a terrorist organisation. Picture: AFP

Joe Biden’s administration has signalled a fresh look at US policy in the Middle East, announcing reviews of massive arms packages for the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia as well as envisioning a slow return to diplomacy with Iran.

On his first full day on the job, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT) that his top priorities would include addressing the catastrophe for civilians in Yemen, where US ally Saudi Arabia has been bombarding Iranian-linked Houthi rebels.

“We’ve seen a campaign, led by Saudi Arabia, that has also contributed to what is by many estimates the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today, and that’s saying something,” Mr Blinken said in Washington.

“It’s vitally important even in the midst of this crisis that we do everything we can to get humanitarian assistance to the people of Yemen, who are in desperate need,” he said of the country where 80 per cent of the 29 million people rely on aid to survive.

The State Department said it was temporarily pausing sales authorised by former president Donald Trump including munitions to Saudi Arabia and a $US23bn ($29.8bn) package of cutting-edge F-35 jets to the United Arab Emirates. Mr Blinken said that a review was routine for any new administration to ensure that a sale “advances our strategic objectives”.

The UAE is to be the first Arab nation to receive the versatile stealth-capable fighter-jets after it agreed to recognise Israel — a normalisation that Mr Blinken says he supports.

Antony Blinken at his first press conference as US Secretary of State on Thursday. Picture: AFP

Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAE ambassador to Washington, said it had anticipated the review and defended the package as “a strong deterrent to aggression” — a veiled reference to Iran.

“It also enables the UAE to take on more of the regional burden for collective security, freeing US assets for other global challenges, a long-time bipartisan US priority.”

Politicians of Mr Biden’s Democratic Party had voiced misgivings over the deal, fearing it would set off an arms race, but failed to block the sale while Mr Trump was in office.

Annelle Sheline, research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a Washington think tank critical of military intervention, said the review was “encouraging” and that it was a surprise that the UAE, not only Saudi Arabia, was affected.

“It may reflect awareness by the Biden administration that although the UAE has conducted a skilful PR campaign, they are equally to blame for the misery in Yemen, and have in fact pursued a more aggressive foreign policy than the Saudis have, such as in Libya,” she said.

Mr Blinken has already pledged to end military support for the Saudi campaign and to revisit the designation of the Houthi rebels as terrorists — a last-minute move by his predecessor Mike Pompeo that aid groups say will criminalise vital work, as the insurgents are a de facto government. Mr Pompeo had pointed to the Houthis’ ties to Iran, an arch-nemesis for the Trump administration, which piled sanctions against the Shia clerical regime.

Mr Blinken confirmed that the Biden administration wants to return to the 2015 nuclear deal trashed by Mr Trump — but rejected Iranian calls to act first.

“Iran is out of compliance on a number of fronts. And it would take some time, should it make the decision to do so, for it to come back into compliance and time for us then to assess whether it was meeting its obligations,” he said.

“We’re not there yet, to say the least.”

Iran has reduced compliance with the nuclear deal as a pressure tactic after Mr Trump imposed sanctions, which were opposed by US allies in Europe as well as Russia and China.

Iranian officials fear that the US — where Republicans, narrowly in the minority in congress, remain opposed to the nuclear deal — will not fulfil sanctions relief even if Tehran goes ahead. Israel is critical of the nuclear deal, with its military chief warning this week that military plans are being drawn up to use if needed.

AFP