US Mulls Selling Bunker-Buster Bombs to Saudi Arabia

Sale Would Be Aimed at Reassuring Them on Iran Deal

US officials say they are considering selling GBU-28 bunker buster bombs to Saudi Arabia’s military soon, an export that had previously only been allowed to Israel.

The 5000-lb bombs are designed to attack underground facilities, though analysts have said they don’t believe the bombs would be sufficient to destroy Iran’s Fordow enrichment site.

Despite this, the consideration to sell to the Saudis is being couched as a chance to “reassure” them on the P5+1 nuclear deal with Iran, a deal the Saudis oppose.

The proliferation of advanced weapons in the region is only part of the problem with such a sale, as Israel is likely to gripe that the sales will imperil their “qualitative edge” in the region, despite being on good terms with the Saudis, and start agitating for even more weapons of their own.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.