Welcome to the Empire Files podcast. This is your host, Abby Martin. This is the audio of our show.

You can watch the episodes on our YouTube channel or at the Empirefiles.TV.

This is Abby Martin with your Empire Update, wrapping up the past week of U.S. imperialism.

On November 10th, in another disturbing development in the U.S.-backed genocide in Yemen,

the Trump administration announced a massive sale of over $23 billion worth of weapons to the United Arab Emirates.

The UAE, a dictatorial monarchy, long aligned with the United States, has come under intense

criticism in recent years for its role in the catastrophic war in Yemen. Giving another cash injection

to Lockheed Martin and General Atomics, the sale includes up to

50 F-35 fighter jets and as many as 18 killer drones.

The arms sale to the UAE is widely seen as a payoff in return for the kingdom, signing

an agreement that normalized relations with Israel.

Of course, this is touted by Trump as a step towards peace in the Middle East,

when it's really just another gift to Israel,

further isolating Palestine from its former political allies.

The UAE is also an avowed enemy of Iran,

giving this weapon sale the additional function of ratcheting up U.S.-led pressure against the

embattled country. In another update, the Trump administration has announced it will be imposing

new sanctions against Iran every week until his term ends to try to sabotage any renegotiation

of the nuclear deal under a Biden administration. This week's sanctions

target four individuals and six Iranian companies aimed at, quote, destabilizing military capabilities.

Under the false pretense that Iran poses the biggest threat to the Middle East,

hypocritical coming from the U.S. Empire, which in the last 15 years has

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