Jun 29, 2017

The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee could be standing in the way of a potential $110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia.

On Monday, Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., sent a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson vowing to block future arms sales to Gulf countries pending a resolution to the regional dispute over Qatar. The letter is widely seen as an effort to give Tillerson more leverage as he tries to negotiate an end to the crisis, which began June 5 when Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut ties with Doha over its alleged support for terrorism.

The hold applies to all lethal arms sales to Gulf Cooperation Council countries that haven’t been publicly or informally notified to Congress. It does not, however, cover a $500 million sale of US precision-guided missiles to Saudi Arabia that was narrowly approved by the Senate earlier this month, but could impact swaths of the $110 billion wish-list touted by President Donald Trump during his trip to Riyadh.

Items that haven’t been publicly notified to Congress but were included in the package include the Terminal High Altitude Air Defense system (THAAD) and 150 Black Hawk helicopters. The package includes letters of interest and intent for weapons sales, which means the buyers and sellers aren’t yet locked into a signed contract.

Corker was in touch with the Trump administration before Monday’s announcement, aides say, but officials would not confirm which agencies were notified. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the Pentagon department that coordinates technical and financial assistance to US military partners, would not publicly comment on lethal assistance that hasn’t been notified to Congress.