By Kanishka Singh, Ismail Shakil and Humeyra Pamuk
WASHINGTON, March 7 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s administration has bypassed U.S. Congress using an emergency authority to expedite the sale of more than 20,000 bombs to Israel worth around $650 million, two U.S. officials familiar with the sale said.
In a late Friday statement, the U.S. State Department said U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined that an emergency existed that required an immediate sale to Israel and waived the congressional review requirements for the sale.
The weapons package, which included 12,000 BLU-110A/B general purpose 1,000-pound bomb bodies that Israel had requested, comes a week after the United States and Israel began their joint air war against Iran, Washington’s biggest military operation since the 2003 Iraq invasion.
The operation, which the U.S. said was focusing on destroying Iran’s offensive missiles, missile production and navy, has brought the region on the brink of a wider war as Tehran retaliated with its own attacks on Israel and regional countries with U.S. bases.
“This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States,” the Department said in its statement, adding that the principal contractor will be Repkon USA, located in Texas.
On Saturday, a State Department official provided additional details about the sale, saying it also included BLU-111 500-pound general purpose bombs which was an amendment to a previous sale. The official added that Israel will purchase an extra $298 million worth of critical munitions via direct commercial sales.
The United Nations in a December 2024 report said Israeli military had likely used these heavy weapons and munitions in densely-populated Gaza, where the Israeli campaign against Hamas militants killed tens of thousands of civilians.
Democratic U.S. Representative Gregory Meeks said Rubio’s decision to use emergency authority to bypass congressional review showed a lack of preparation for the war on Iran.
“The Trump administration has repeatedly insisted it was fully prepared for this war. Rushing to invoke emergency authority to circumvent Congress tells a different story. This is an emergency of the Trump administration’s own creation,” Meeks said in a statement.
In the last week, U.S. and Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,332 Iranian civilians and thousands more have been wounded, according to Iran’s U.N. ambassador. Many top Iranian leaders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have also been killed.
The U.S. military has said six U.S. service members were killed in a strike on a Kuwait facility, while Israel has said at least 10 civilians have been killed across Israel so far.
Washington has maintained strong support for Israel under President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden during the more than two years of Israeli wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.
The Trump administration has also previously made military sales to Israel by skipping congressional reviews, as did the Biden administration when it was in power.
Washington’s military support has faced scrutiny from rights experts, particularly during Israel’s assault on Gaza that has killed tens of thousands, caused a hunger crisis, internally displaced Gaza’s entire population, and led to assessments of genocide from scholars and a U.N. inquiry.
Israel calls its actions self-defense after Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages in an October 2023 attack.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Ismail Shakil; Editing by Christian Martinez, Tom Hogue and Franklin Paul)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.