Saudi Arabia Has the Weapons. Is It Time to Take the Fight to Iran?

Saudi Arabia was once the world’s largest importer of major U.S. arms. From 2015 through 2019, it ranked No. 1. By 2020 through 2024, it had fallen to No. 4. SIPRI’s latest 2021 through 2025 data puts Saudi Arabia at No. 3, behind Ukraine and India, with 6.8% of global major arms imports. And 77% of Saudi Arabia’s imported major weapons came from the United States.

Look at what Riyadh has in its arsenal. F-15 fighters, including the F-15SA. AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, UH-60 Black Hawks, M1A2 Abrams tanks, Patriot air defenses, THAAD missile defense, MQ-9 drones, and M982A1 Excalibur 155mm precision-guided artillery.

And the buildup continues. In January 2026, Washington approved a possible $9 billion sale of 730 Patriot PAC-3 MSE interceptors. In July, it approved a possible $1.96 billion sale of 20,000 APKWS II precision-guided rockets. Riyadh is also pursuing as many as 48 F-35 stealth fighters. The United States accounted for 42% of global major arms exports from 2021 through 2025.

Iran has the manpower advantage, with about 610,000 active troops and roughly 350,000 reserves, compared with about 247,000 active Saudi personnel. But Saudi Arabia spends vastly more on defense and has advanced American aircraft, precision weapons and layered air defenses.

A war would not be easy. Iran has missiles, drones, naval forces, more troops and geography on its side. Saudi Arabia could hit hard from the air and defend its territory, but defeating Iran or sustaining a long war would be a very different challenge.

The threat is already reaching Saudi Arabia’s doorstep. On August 9, Iran-aligned Houthi forces claimed a drone attack on an Aramco facility in Jizan. The facility caught fire, but Saudi authorities reported no casualties. Today, August 11, a small cargo ship was attacked in the Bab el-Mandeb by Iran-aligned Houthi forces, killing crew members. The attack adds another pressure point against shipping through a critical waterway near Saudi Arabia.

Days earlier, Houthi attacks in Najran injured 11 civilians, including a 4-year-old child. Saudi officials have also warned of possible attacks by Iranian-backed forces in Iraq and Yemen against energy facilities, airports and ports.

The message is getting harder to ignore. Saudi Arabia is being pressured on land, threatened at sea and forced to defend critical infrastructure.

The military is there. The money is there. The weapons are there.

At some point, this becomes Saudi Arabia’s fight and Saudi Arabia’s neighborhood to secure. If Kurdish forces were to open another front against Iran, that could be the tipping point that changes the balance. Riyadh has the resources and American-supplied firepower to take far more responsibility for confronting the forces threatening its doorstep.