Arab Gulf states are in negotiations to purchase the Israeli-developed Iron Dome missile interception system from US Raytheon, in a deal estimated in the tens of millions or even in the hundreds of millions, Sky News reported.
The Gulf states which includes the six members of Gulf Cooperation Council: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Oman, will buy Iron Dome in an attempt to ward off possible threats from Iran’s “growing arsenal of missiles, ”
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Iron Dome developed in cooperation with Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. to counter the rocket threat from the Gaza Strip, from which Hamas and other military organizations have fired since 2001 upward of 15, 200 rockets. The Rafael-made system was built to counter rocket threats from four to 70 kilometers away.
Bahrain’s foreign minister Khalid bin Mohammed al Khalifa said during a visit to London. “The Israelis have their small Iron Dome, ” “We’ll have a much bigger one in the GCC.”
The common threat to Israel and the Gulf States posed by the Iranian military buildup has made the deal possible. A senior government source in one of the Gulf states said, “If Netanyahu were not making less of a mess of things and was more like Anwar Sadat, then we would be happy to buy the missiles straight from Israel.”, according to Globes.
Israeli Channel 2 reports that during Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza in summer of 2014, Hamas fired 4, 594 rockets at Israel. Iron Dome chose to intercept 799 projectiles, hitting 735 and missing 64.
