It was back in 2017 when U.S. President Donald Trump announced a $110 billion arms package to Saudi Arabia.

Then this May, Trump announced an $8 billion arms deal – without Congressional approval – to send weapons to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. In a sharp, bipartisan rebuke, the U.S. Senate voted last week to block that sale.

CGTN’s Owen Fairclough reports.

To discuss:

• Reem Daffa is the vice president and executive director of the Saudi American Public Relation Affairs Committee.
• Banafsheh Keynoush is an international geopolitical consultant and the author of “Saudi Arabia and Iran: Friends or Foe.” 
• Mohsen Milani is the executive director of the University of South Florida’s Center for Strategic and Diplomatic Studies.
• Ian Black is a visiting senior fellow at the London School of Economics’ Middle East Centre.

For more:

Breaking News: The Senate voted to block weapons sales to Saudi Arabia, a bipartisan rebuke of President Trump that he’s likely to sidestep with a veto https://t.co/gVGJQ9n0XO

— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 20, 2019

UK's court of appeal declares British arms sales to Saudi Arabia that were used in Yemen's war unlawful https://t.co/5YtBolYUyv pic.twitter.com/NXArbVsElv

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) June 20, 2019

Jeremy Corbyn: "Overwhelming evidence" of Saudi war crimes in Yemen means government must drop its appeal against a ruling that UK arms sales are unlawful

Theresa May: Labour leader would rather side with Russia, IRA and Iran than back Britainhttps://t.co/p02Tain09o #PMQs pic.twitter.com/mQXy2T2pZU

— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) June 26, 2019