US bypasses congressional review for military sales of $8.6 billion to Middle East allies

United States President Donald Trump’s administration has bypassed congressional review to approve military sales totalling over $8.6 billion to Middle Eastern allies Israel, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The State Department announcements on Friday came as the US 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 US 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 announcements included approving military sales to Qatar of Patriot air and missile defence replenishment services costing $4.01bn 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 $2.5bn and to Israel of APKWS costing $992.4m. The State Department approved a sale to the UAE of APKWS for $147.6m.

The US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. Iran responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf states that host US bases. US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed thousands and displaced millions.

The principal contractor in the APKWS sales to Qatar, Israel and the UAE was BAE Systems, the State Department said.

RTX and Lockheed Martin were the principal contractors in the integrated battle command system sale to Kuwait and in the Patriot air and missile defence replenishment sale to Qatar, the State Department added.

Northrop Grumman was also a principal contractor in the Kuwaiti sale.

US support for Israel has come under scrutiny from rights experts, particularly over Israel’s assault on Gaza that has killed over 70,000 Palestinians, led to assessments of genocide and starvation from scholars and a UN inquiry.

Israel calls its actions self-defence after Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people in an October 2023 attack.

Washington has maintained support for its allies.