American Arms Fanning Flames of Regional Tensions: Analyst

“Based on the ‘noninterference policy’, which White House claims to be following, the US should have ‘no direct meddling’ in the Middle East affairs,” Sabah Zanganeh, a former Iranian envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and a political analyst, said in a Farsi interview with Jame Jam.

However, he added, the country has been spending the petrodollars of Arab states in Western Asia to ensure its strategic presence and influence in the region. This has fueled more tensions, leading to an arms contest by regional players.

“The US Congress has OK’d a bill to offer more than $600 million to the Zionist regime of Israel for missile defense cooperation. This not only supports the idea of an arms contest going on in the region, but also reveals that these supports are of varying nature,” he went on to say.

“When the US sells arms to Israel, it does not bother to monitor how the Zionists use the weapons; however, Washington always controls the way Arabs use the purchased arms. No matter where the weapons are used and against which nations: Syrians, Bahrainis or Yemenis. By selling arms to the Zionists, the US is effectively helping bolster their technical and operational strength.”

“Anyway, the US has a hand in the Middle East’s ongoing tensions as its regional allies commit their crimes by using American weapons; naturally, the victimized nations and states of the Middle East are entitled to seeking accountability from the US government for threatening their lives and may even sue the Washington for its policies towards the innocent people of the region,” Zanganeh noted.

He also said, “The other point to consider with regard to the US arms trade in the region is that Washington has been in fact organizing its regional customers including Saudi Arabia and Israel and helping them coordinate their mischief.”

“As a matter of fact, by selling arms to these countries, the US has thrown its weight behind Saudis and Zionists as well as most [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council doctrines,” he added.