Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo said Thursday’s actions represent another step in our efforts to constrain Russia’s military capabilities.
The United Arab Emirates is the first to use the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System in an attack by Houthi militants. It successfully took out a mid-range ballistic missile aimed at a civilian site in the country.
The drill comes a little more than a year after the UAE and subsequently Bahrain normalized ties with Israel despite strong criticism by Palestinians over the formal recognition of Israel.
The United States called Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates “major security partners” early Saturday, a previously unheard of designation for the two countries home to major American military operations.
U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, who clashed with the Trump administration over its arms sales in the Mideast, rejection of Cold War arms control treaties and its withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, is poised to become the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Amid reports the Trump administration is fast-tracking sales of the high-tech F-35 warplane to the United Arab Emirates, the State Department remains committed to consulting Congress on arms sales to foreign governments, a senior administration official says.