Saudi Arabia halts $3B Lebanese arms deal amid Iran dispute
DUBAI - Saudi Arabia's state-run news agency says kingdom is halting $3 billion arms deal with Lebanon over the Mediterranean country's recent diplomatic positions -- a veiled reference to the kingdom's spat with Iran.
Riyadh says it would also halt a $1 billion deal to equip Lebanese police.
The Saudi Press Agency made the surprise announcement Friday. Lebanese officials could not be immediately reached for comment on the news, which involves Saudi money buying French weapons for Lebanon.
Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia long has been suspicious of the Shiite power Iran, which supports the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Syria's embattled President Bashar Assad. Relations took a turn for the worse at the start of the year, when Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Shiite cleric and protesters stormed Saudi diplomatic posts in Iran.
