Spain will go ahead with sale of 400 bombs to Saudi Arabia

13 September 2018|03 Muharram 1440|Arab News

Spain will go ahead with the sale of 400 laser-guided bombs to Saudi Arabia, Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said on Thursday.

“The decision is that these bombs will be delivered to honor a contract that comes from 2015, and was made by the previous government,” Borrell told Onda Cero radio.

Several government ministries had worked on the issue for a week and the contract was reviewed three times by a commission that authorizes arms sales, Borrell said, adding, “We found no reason not to carry it out.”

Borrell said the laser-guided bombs hit their targets with “extraordinary precision” of within one meter. “This kind of weapon does not produce the same sort of bombing as less sophisticated weapons, launched a bit randomly.”

The defense ministry said last month that the current Socialist government, which took power in June, had never sold arms that could be used against a civilian population and would review the criteria used to authorize arms sales.