U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has bypassed congressional review to approve military sales totaling over $8.6 billion to Middle Eastern allies including Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
The State Department announcements on Friday came as the U.S. and Israel’s war against Iran marked nine weeks since its start and more than three weeks since a fragile ceasefire came into effect.
The State Department said U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined that an emergency existed that required immediate sales to those countries and waived the congressional review requirements for the sales, the news agencies reports.
The announcements included approving military sales to Qatar of Patriot air and missile defense replenishment services costing $4.01 billion and of Advanced Precision Kill Weapon Systems (APKWS) costing $992.4 million.
They also included approval of the sale to Kuwait of an integrated battle command system costing $2.5 billion and to Israel of Advanced Precision Kill Weapon Systems costing $992.4 million. The State Department approved a sale to the UAE of APKWS for $147.6 million.
The U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. Iran responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf states that host U.S. bases.
