The New York Times.
WASHINGTON — Weapons sales by the United States tripled in 2011 to a
record high, driven by major arms sales to Persian Gulf allies concerned
about Iran’s regional ambitions, according to a new study for Congress.
Overseas weapons sales by the United States totaled $66.3 billion last
year, or more than three-quarters of the global arms market, valued at
$85.3 billion in 2011. Russia was a distant second, with $4.8 billion in
deals.
The American weapons sales total was an “extraordinary
increase” over the $21.4 billion in deals for 2010, the study found, and
was the largest single-year sales total in the history of United States
arms exports. The previous high was in fiscal year 2009, when American
weapons sales overseas totaled nearly $31 billion.
A worldwide economic decline had suppressed arms sales over recent
years. But increasing tensions with Iran drove a set of Persian Gulf
nations — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman — to purchase
American weapons at record levels.
These Gulf states do not share a border with Iran, and their arms
purchases focused on expensive warplanes and complex missile defense
systems.
