The US Senate on June 13 fell just four votes short of blocking arms sales to Saudi Arabia in a sign of growing unease about US involvement in the sectarian proxy war between Riyadh and Tehran.
Senators voted 53-47 against a motion from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., that would have prohibited the Donald Trump administration from selling $500 million worth of precision-guided munitions for the kingdom’s campaign against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. Last year, while Barack Obama was still president, a similar proposal to stop the sale of battle tanks to the Saudis only garnered 27 votes.