White House Announces Weapon Sales to Morocco

The Trump Administration notified Congress that it is planning to sell $1 billion in weapons to Morocco. The announcement of the deal on Friday came a day after President Donald Trump in a tweet announced that the White House had brokered a normalization deal between Israel and Morocco, and that the US “recognized Moroccan sovereignty over the entire Western Sahara territory” on which the Algeria-backed Polisario Front seeks to establish an independent state. The deal includes four US-made drones, as well as precision laser-guided munitions, Reuters first reported, citing sources familiar with the notification. It is unlikely that Congress will attempt to block the sale, according to the report. Congress on Wednesday failed to block the sale of advanced F-35 fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates in a sale that was announced after the UAE agreed in a US-brokered deal to normalize relations with Israel, one of four countries to do so in recent months. Meanwhile, on Saturday, the US  adopted a “new official” map of Morocco that includes the Western Sahara, its ambassador to Rabat said, according to Reuters.