Tehran-Riyadh ties benefit all Muslim states: Saudi speaker
Chairman of Saudi Consultative Council, Salih bin Hamed, said Sunday that Tehran-Riyadh ties would benefit both states, the entire region and the whole Islamic world.
He made the remark in a meeting with Iranian head of Tehran-Riyadh Friendship Group, Ali Riaz in the Saudi capital.
He expressed his satisfaction with the current trend of growing relations between the two Muslim states.
The enemies would benefit from Iran-Saudi Arabia discord, he said, stressing, "We should not let others create tension in the two countries' bilateral ties."
The regional developments in the past few years proved that the two countries are in need of establishing bilateral friendly relations, the Saudi official noted.
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How much of Americas military hardware, that has been sold to Saudi Arabia over the years will end up in Iranian hands?!?
Military Sales Package Aims to Boost Long-Term Stability in Middle East
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Aug. 1, 2007 – The recently announced military sales package to several Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia, represents an investment in the region’s long-term stability, U.S. and Saudi leaders said here today.
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Saudi Arabia is America’s top customer. Since 1990, the U.S. government, through the Pentagon’s arms export program, has arranged for the delivery of more than $39.6 billion in foreign military sales to Saudi Arabia, and an additional $394 million worth of arms were delivered to the Saudi regime through the State Department’s direct commercial sales program during that same period. (Foreign Military and Construction Sales and Direct Commercial Sales are recorded and published by the Dept. of Defense in Foreign Military Sales, Foreign Military Construction Sales and Military Assistance Facts; the most current online edition includes information through FY 1999.)
Oil rich Saudi Arabia is a cash-paying customer. It receives no U.S. military assistance to finance these purchases, although it does demand that about 35 percent of all major contracts be "offset"-that is, economic benefits equaling 35 percent of the arms contract value must be steered back to the Saudi economy. (Check out the Offsets Monitoring Project for more information on this phenomenon.)
The United States has very close and long-running military ties to the Saudi regime dating back to 1945. Following the 1990-91 war against Iraq, more than 5,000 U.S. troops and thousands of U.S. military contractors have been continuously based in Saudi Arabia. However, several concerns have been raised about this close military cooperation and the related sales of sophisticated arms. These concerns are:
sophisticated arms sales to Saudi Arabia spurring regional arms races
high level military expenditures undermining stability
opposition to American military presence on Saudi soil
political repression and violations of human rights
border disputes and regional tension
concerns about proliferation of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles
support for international terrorism
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Pertinent Links:
1) Tehran-Riyadh ties benefit all Muslim states: Saudi speaker
2) Military Sales Package Aims to Boost Long-Term Stability in Middle East
3) Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia
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