U.S. blocks arms sale to Saudi Arabia amid concerns over Yemen war

The Obama administration has deepened its rift with its Gulf allies over the ongoing conflict in Yemen, blocking a transfer of precision munitions to Saudi Arabia because of concerns about civilian casualties that administration officials attribute to poor targeting.

Administration officials said on Tuesday that the White House had made the decision to block the sale by Raytheon of about 16,000 guided munitions kits, which upgrade so-called dumb bombs to smart bombs that can more accurately hit targets. The kits, if purchased over the life of the proposed contract, are valued around $350 million.

But administration officials said that upgrading the bombs would not help to target if the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen did not choose its targets properly, an ongoing concern since the start of the bombing campaign. This year, the United States blocked a sale of cluster munitions to Saudi Arabia because of similar concerns.

Josh Earnest, the White House Press Secretary, said on Tuesday that the Obama administration has “long expressed some very significant concerns about the high rate of civilian casualties” in the Yemeni conflict. Administration officials pointed to the bombing in October of a funeral hall in Yemen that killed over 100 people and wounded hundreds of others. The Saudi-led military coalition involved in Yemen’s war acknowledged that one of its jets carried out the attack, for which it blamed faulty intelligence.

The blocking of the sale is bound to further deteriorate an already shaky relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia, which has worsened during the Obama administration. Sunni Arabs are alarmed about a stronger Shiite-majority Iran and object to the Iran nuclear deal signed by the United States and five other countries.

Some Sunni Arab allies have expressed hope that President-elect Donald J. Trump might adopt a more conciliatory tone toward Saudi Arabia, but foreign policy experts caution that no one, at this point, has a firm idea of how Trump, who has made fighting radical Islamic militant groups a centerpiece of his campaign, will conduct foreign policy in the region.