The US State Department has declared a state of emergency in the wake of the Iran war and is moving to sell more than 27,000 bombs to Israel without congressional approval, according to three current and former US officials. The bombs have a market value of about $660 million.
Israel launched an invasion of Iran on February 28, in collaboration with the US, to eliminate the Iranian leadership and destroy the country's ballistic missile and nuclear programs.However, US President Donald Trump claimed that Iran's nuclear program was destroyed by the US attack last June.
The US State Department said in a statement last Friday night that Secretary of State Marco Rubio sees the need to "urgently sell" 12,000 large 1,000-pound bombs and other equipment to Israel. However, the Trump administration has not yet received any congressional authorization for war against Iran.The weapons being sold to Israel also include 10,000 500-pound bombs and 5,000 smaller bombs. The market value of these weapons and their associated equipment and services is more than $500 million. The US State Department, however, did not mention these details in its announcement.
However, Josh Paul, a former official working in the State Department's arms transfers division, and two current US officials said that these are part of the emergency arms sales.The current officials declined to be named to discuss the sensitive arms deal.
The Trump administration has formally declared a national emergency under the Arms Export Control Act to bypass Congress on arms sales to Israel for the first time. The administration has previously bypassed Congress's informal approval process three times to send weapons or military aid to Israel, but no national emergency was declared at that time.
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