Emergency arms waiver: US fast-tracks bombs for Israel
WASHINGTON, March 7 — The U.S. State Department said on Friday it had approved a $151.8 million sale of munitions and related support to Israel without submitting the deal for congressional review, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked emergency authority citing U.S. national security interests.
The announcement came roughly a week after the United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran, escalating hostilities that have spread across the Middle East. The State Department said Rubio determined an emergency existed that required the immediate transfer of weapons to Israel.Under the deal, Israel requested 12,000 BLU-110A/B general-purpose bomb bodies weighing 1,000 pounds each. The State Department said the principal contractor would be Repkon USA, based in Texas.
Emergency authority invokedIn a statement, the State Department said Rubio concluded that the sale was “in the national security interests of the United States.” The emergency determination allows the administration to bypass the standard congressional review process normally required for foreign military sales.Such emergency authorities have been used by successive administrations during urgent geopolitical crises to accelerate weapons transfers to allies.The decision was made as fighting linked to the Iran conflict intensified across the region, with both U.S. and Israeli forces conducting strikes and Iran responding with attacks targeting Israel and several regional countries hosting U.S. military installations.
Congressional criticism emergesDemocratic Representative Gregory Meeks criticized the decision, saying the use of emergency authority indicated shortcomings in the administration’s preparation for the conflict.“The Trump administration has repeatedly insisted it was fully prepared for this war,” Meeks said in a statement. “Rushing to invoke emergency authority to circumvent Congress tells a different story.”Meeks added that the decision reflected what he described as an emergency “of the Trump administration’s own creation.”Conflict toll mountsThe United States and Israel launched an air assault on Iran on Feb. 28, prompting retaliatory attacks by Tehran against Israel and several regional locations hosting U.S. bases.Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations has said at least 1,332 Iranian civilians have been killed in the attacks and thousands more wounded. Iran has also reported the deaths of several senior leaders, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
The U.S. military has said six American service members were killed in a strike on a facility in Kuwait, while Israeli authorities say at least 10 civilians have died in Iran’s retaliatory strikes.Washington has maintained strong military and political support for Israel during conflicts involving Gaza, Lebanon and Iran under both President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden.U.S. military assistance to Israel has drawn scrutiny from rights experts, particularly during Israel’s military campaign in Gaza Strip, which has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced the enclave’s population and triggered warnings of famine and genocide assessments from some scholars and a United Nations inquiry.
