New York Times reported that members of the Democratic and Republican parties in the US Congress intend today, Thursday, to present a bill to ban the sale of drones to their closest allies.
The newspaper said lawmakers were seeking to prevent President Donald Trump from deploying droning technology, and to bypass the ban on sales of these planes.
She added that members of Congress are particularly concerned about arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which have used American-made weapons to fight a devastating war in Yemen that has killed thousands of civilians, most of them children.
The New York Times quoted Senator Chris Murphy as saying that Trump's policy would enable the Saudis to kill more civilians in Yemen with drones.
The lawmakers ’move aims to stop the Trump administration’s efforts to bypass an arms control agreement signed in 1987, to which the 35 signatory states have committed, although not legally binding.
Treaty amendment
And last month, the US administration announced unilaterally amending the 1987 Treaty on the Limitation of the spread of missile technology, allowing it to sell drones.
The White House said that these drones can launch missiles with a speed of more than 800 kilometers per hour.
He added that the missile technology monitoring system is extremely important in slowing proliferation and promoting peace and security, but it is in urgent need of modernization because it applies to drones systems.
The move sparked opposition within the Congress, given expectations that Saudi Arabia and the Emirates involved in the Yemen war would benefit from them.
Congress has sought more than once during the past year to stop a deal to sell arms to the UAE and Saudi Arabia with more than $ 8 billion, but the US President resorted to what is known as an emergency item to bypass lawmakers' opposition to the deal, citing what he described as Iranian threats in the region.