Israel Offered Saudi Arabia Use of Its Iron Dome Technology

Israel sells about 80 percent of the weaponry it develops, though not to countries with which it has no diplomatic ties, earning $6.5 billion a year.

The Iron Dome missile defense system outside Tel Aviv. Photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST

(SALEM, Ore.) - According to Jerusalem Post, Israel offered Saudi Arabia use of its Iron Dome technology to secure its border with Yemen particularly the strategic area in Jizan against Yemeni tribes.

According to the report, the offer was made in May, during meetings in Amman between the Saudis and the US ambassador to Jordan.

A spokesman for the Jordanian government said that he was not aware of a meeting between the Saudis and the Israelis in Amman, the news outlet reported.

Jordanian government spokesman not only ruled out official meetings between Saudi and Israeli military officers in Jordan but also some reports indicate Jordan's central role in the formation of the agreement.

Saudi Arabia reportedly rejected the offer, according to the London based newspaper Rai al-Youm.

The sticker shock of the $50 million price tag for an Iron Dome battery, radar, command room and two missile launchers was apparently not the problem.

The biggest obstacle for Saudi Arabia to sign the agreement was allegedly Israel's condition to observe the control room of this system inside Saudi territory by Israeli officers.