Officials from the White House says that a series of deals are going to be signed to improve Saudi defense effectiveness as Donald Trump is getting ready  for his Official Arab Trip.

The Trump administration and Saudi Arabia have conducted extensive economic negotiations, the biggest US business leaders like James Gorman of Morgan Stanley and Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase will follow the US president, seeking to sign deals with the Saudi.

Trump has also a plan, an ‘Arab NATO’ for the “stability” in the Middle East region, to lead the fight against terrorism but more clearly to push back against Iran’s hegemony. Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of Donald Trump, has been involved in a $110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia, as The New York Times reported on Thursday

 The Saudis proposed a real improvement of the relations with the U.S and proposed some projects on security cooperation, economic cooperation and investment, the central idea for the two countries is an opposition to Iran. The goal for the US is to stop the influence of Iran’s nuclear program and it is a real opportunity as Saudi Arabia is trying to “control the Islamic world”.

It is also important to notice that the United States were engaged with Saudi Arabia in a US$1.3 billion arms sale in 2015, despite warnings from State Department that the sale could make the US guilty for war crimes in Yemen. The weapons sold in November 2015, were specifically sold with the purpose of restocking munitions used in Yemen.

The Saudi’s government curtailed freedom of expression, association and assembly, arresting human rights defenders and minority rights activists. Torture and other ill-treatment of detainees is a habit, also during interrogation, the courts continues to accept torture confessions to convict defendants in unfair trials. Women are discriminated by law and its practice and are inadequately protected against sexual and other violence.  Furthermore, Saudi-led coalition forces  committed serious violations of international law, including war crimes, in Yemen.

In Yemen we enter in the 3rd year of war, the saudi-led coalition invasion has brought the country into famine and turned it in the worst humanitarian crisis since WWII, where more than 10’000 lives have been lost and 2.2 million are suffering malnutrition. The crimes perpetrated by the Saudi-led coalition are being supported by US arm sales, who are constantly providing Saudi with weapons of destruction.

ICSFT condemns in the strongest terms US arms sales to Saudi. ICSFT urges the Saudi government to stop the genocide in Yemen , as well as the sales of weapons to countries that are violating human rights of civilians in international armed conflicts. ICSFT calls for all stakeholders and the international community to take a stand in order to put an end to the ongoing crimes led by Saudi.