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The Trump administration is seeking to fast-track $8.6bn of arms sales to allies in the Middle East to fortify them against attack from Tehran during the US-Israeli war against Iran.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is seeking to bypass Congressional review of the sales, citing emergency circumstances, according to notices issued by the state department on Friday.
The department, which is responsible for reviewing and approving foreign military sales, greenlit the sale of $4.01bn in Patriot interceptor missiles and an Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) to Qatar.
Israel and the United Arab Emirates were also approved to purchase an APKWS system, which transforms unguided rockets into precision-guided munitions. Kuwait is set to buy an Integrated Battle Command System for air and missile defence estimated to be worth $2.5bn.
Israel and the Gulf states have faced a barrage of missile and drone attacks since the US and Israel launched their war against Iran at the end of February.
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The war has depleted US stockpiles of several key munitions, including interceptor missiles for Patriot air defence systems which are in short supply globally.
The arms sales, estimated to be worth a total $8.6bn, come as the US warned European allies, including the UK, Poland, Lithuania and Estonia, to expect long delivery delays for US weapons as it scrambles to replenish stockpiles depleted by the Iran war.
The Pentagon had told the countries to expect serious delays for several missile systems, the FT reported on Friday.
The Iran war has deepened concerns about whether the US has a sufficient stockpile of weapons to deter Beijing or defeat China in any future conflict over Taiwan.
A study of US munitions stockpiles published last month by the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that the US had sufficient missiles to continue fighting the war in Iran “under any plausible scenario” but it would take time to replenish to the level needed to fight a war with China.
A ceasefire with Iran which came into effect on April 7 has since been extended, but diplomatic efforts to broker a lasting end to the war, now in its tenth week, have stalled.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner were expected to travel to Pakistan last weekend for talks. The trip was cancelled at the last minute by Trump, who has sought to blame disarray within Iranian leadership for holding up negotiations.
On Friday, Trump told reporters that Iran wants to “make a deal, but I’m not satisfied with it”.
Trump, who has not ruled out restarting combat operations, said he would like to avoid resuming the conflict.
“On a human basis, I’d prefer not. But that’s the option: do we wanna go in there heavy and just blast them away or do we wanna do something,” he said.
Source:
www.ft.com
