US pauses $14bn weapons sale to Taiwan due to Iran war

The US is pausing a $14bn (£10.4bn) Taiwan" class="entity-link entity-topic" data-entity-id="132025" data-entity-type="topic">arms sale to Taiwan to ensure it has enough weapons for the Iran-war" class="entity-link entity-event" data-entity-id="38748" data-entity-type="event">Iran war.US acting Navy secretary Hung Cao confirmed this at a Senate hearing on Thursday, days after President Donald Trump appeared non-committal about approving the sale and said he would speak to Taiwan's president about it.A spokesperson for Taiwan's presidential office told reporters on Friday that they had not received any information about "US adjustments to the arms sale".The sale of US arms to Taiwan has long irked Beijing, which claims the self-governed island as its territory and has not ruled out taking it by force."Right now we're doing a pause in order to make sure we have the munitions we need for Epic Fury - which we have plenty," Cao said at the hearing on Thursday, using the code name for the US-Israel joint military operation in Iran.When asked what he had heard from the Taiwanese about a pause in the weapons sale, Cao said he had "not spoken to the Taiwanese"."We're just making sure we have everything, but then the foreign military sales will continue when the administration deems necessary," Cao later said.US President Donald Trump has yet to confirm that he would give final approval to the package, telling Fox News last week that it was "a very good negotiating chip" with China.