BERLIN (AP) – The German government has approved the export of air-defense missiles to Saudi Arabia, underlining a softening of its hard line of recent years toward arms exports to the kingdom.
Government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit on Wednesday confirmed a report by news magazine Der Spiegel that Germany’s Security Council, made up of Chancellor Olaf Scholz and several other ministers, approved the export of 150 air-to-air missiles for the Iris-T air defense system at the end of 2023.
The government of then-Chancellor Angela Merkel imposed a ban on arms exports to Saudi Arabia following the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the kingdom´s consulate in Istanbul in 2018. It later made a conditional exception for systems developed jointly with other countries.
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Source: https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/01/10/germany-ends-ban-on-arms-exports-to-saudi-arabia-imposed-after-khashoggi-sells-missiles/
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