UAE suspends talks with US on $23 billion deal for F-35s, drones

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United Arab Emirates on Tuesday suspended talks on a $23 billion deal to purchase American-made F-35 planes, armed drones and other equipment, in a rare dispute between Washington and a key United Stataes ally in the Persian Gulf.

The Emirati embassy in Washington said it would “suspend discussions” with the US, though meetings at the Pentagon this week between the two sides on other matters will move forward as planned. “The US remains the UAE’s preferred provider for advanced defense requirements and discussions for the F-35 may be re-opened in the future,” the embassy said in a statement.

The proposed sale of 50 F-35s to the UAE came at the end of former US president Donald Trump’s administration, emerging from a deal that saw the Emiratis formally recognize Israel. US President Joe Biden’s administration put the deal on hold after he took office, in part due to criticism of the UAE and Saudi Arabia over their yearslong war in Yemen, which has sparked one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and continues today.

Also included in the deal are 18 advanced drone systems and a package of air-to-air and air-to-ground munitions.

Emirati officials blame an American insistence on restrictions on how and where the F-35s could be used and say they are a violation of the UAE’s sovereignty.

The State Department said in a statement that the administration “remains committed to the proposed sales… even as we continue consultations to ensure that we have a clear, mutual understanding of Emirati obligations and actions before, during, and after delivery.”

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters that US requirements on the use of American-made military equipment “are universal, non-negotiable, and not specific to the UAE.”

“The US partnership with the UAE is more strategic and more complex than any one weapon sale,” Kirby said.

A person familiar with the matter said the US believes the Emiratis’ move now is a negotiating tactic to try to move the process along. The person, who was not authorized to comment and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the UAE letter notifying the US of the suspension was written by a relatively low-level official.

The Wall Street Journal first disclosed the suspension of negotiations.

The UAE has long worked with the US on counterterrorism and allowed the entry of people fleeing Afghanistan during the chaotic US withdrawal earlier this year. But tensions between Washington and Abu Dhabi have risen over the UAE’s growing cooperation with China.

Last week, a top Emirati diplomat acknowledged the UAE stopped construction on a Chinese facility at an Abu Dhabi port that America considered a military base. The Journal first revealed the presence of the alleged facility.

“We took these American concerns into consideration and we stopped the work on the facilities,” the diplomat, Anwar Gargash, told a meeting of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. “But our position remains the same, that these facilities were not really military facilities.”

He described the discussions between the UAE and the US “as quite frank.”