France tries to supplant US as Saudi Arabia's arms supplier - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

France tries to supplant US as Saudi Arabia's arms supplier - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East:

"Three issues are on the desk of French President Francois Hollande and Saudi King Abdullah: Lebanon, Syria and Iran.

The top priority of the French president, who's visiting Saudi Arabia Dec. 29-30, is to conclude an unprecedented arms deal with Saudi Arabia, thus exploiting the chill in US-Saudi relations and entering the oil region’s largest arms market, which has spent more than $70 billion during in one decade to accumulate the region’s largest arsenal.

Hollande wishes to gradually supplant America in this market in case America keeps retreating from the crises of the Middle East and Central Asia, and if America’s nuclear understanding with Tehran is consecrated."

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