The United States Senate voted against the consideration of two resolutions to ban sale of arms, including F-35 fighter jets, Reaper drones and other advanced weapons, to the UAE.

Democratic Senators Bob Menendez and Chris Murphy along with Republican Senator Rand Paul, introduced the resolutions.

They said that they were concerned about an arms race among countries in the Middle East and objected to the rushed nature of the sales.

Senator Bob Menendez, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, spoke on the Senate Floor ahead of Wednesday’s votes on his Joint Resolutions of Disapproval to reject the Trump administration’s effort to approve a multibillion-dollar package of arms sales to the United Arab Emirates.

“I am not opposed to these sales if they make sense and pose no threat to U.S. or Israeli security in the short and in the long term, but these sales require and deserve careful and deliberate consideration within the interagency process, and by this Congress,” Menendez said.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who urged all senators to vote against the resolutions of disapproval, said that “China and Russia will be more than happy to meet the demand for advanced capabilities if the U.S. simply takes our ball and goes home”.

Yousef Al Otaiba, the United Arab Emirates ambassador to the United States, thanked the Senators for their votes.

“The UAE deeply appreciates the consideration of all Senators on today’s votes.  Continued US support enables the UAE to take on more of the burden for our collective security – ours, yours and our partners,” he said.

“It improves US-UAE interoperability and allows us to be more effective together.  It makes us all safer. Open, tolerant, and future oriented, the UAE is charting a new positive path for the Middle East.  We are committed to regional de-escalation and dialogue,” he added.