The US State Department announced on Friday that it had approved a $151.8 million sale of munitions to Israel, without submitting the deal for congressional review. This decision came shortly after US and Israeli forces began their offensive against Iran.
According to the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, an urgent situation necessitated the immediate delivery of these weapons. The principal contractor for this transaction will be Repkon USA, located in Texas. The State Department stated that Israel had requested 12,000 BLU-110A/B general-purpose, 1,000-pound bomb bodies.
US Senator Gregory Meeks expressed concern over Rubio’s decision to bypass congressional scrutiny, claiming it revealed a lack of readiness for the conflict with Iran. “The Trump administration has repeatedly insisted on its preparedness for this war,” Meeks said in his statement. However, he noted that “rushing to invoke emergency authority to circumvent Congress tells a different story.”
US and Israeli forces commenced their offensive against Iran on February 28th, leading to retaliatory strikes from Iran in Israel and across regional countries with US bases. In the ensuing week, at least 1,332 Iranian civilians have been killed, while tens of thousands have suffered injuries.
The US military reported six American service members dead in a strike against a Kuwait facility, while Israel claimed that at least ten civilians had died within its borders. Washington has consistently supported Israel under both President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden during more than two years of Israeli conflicts with Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran.
Moreover, the State Department’s recent history of military sales to Israel without congressional approval reflects a pattern set by previous administrations. Critics have questioned these actions, particularly in light of Israel’s assault on Gaza that has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths, severe humanitarian crises, internal displacement, and genocide assessments from scholars and UN inquiries.
In response, Israel justifies its actions as self-defense following Hamas’s October 2023 attack, which killed over a thousand people and took more than two hundred hostages.