Germany announces resumption of arms exports to Saudi Arabia

The German government declared on Wednesday that it had approved the sale of missiles to Saudi Arabia, thus lifting a long-standing ban on arms exports to Riyadh.

The spokesperson for the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, confirmed to journalists that the government gave the green light at the end of 2023 for selling "Iris-T" model missiles to Saudi Arabia, following information revealed by Der Spiegel newspaper.

Germany had frozen arms sales to Riyadh since the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in late 2018, an operation that US intelligence primarily blamed on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

AFP