The Donald Trump administration is moving to fast-track a total of $8.6 billion (about 12.6533 trillion won) in arms sales to Middle Eastern countries, seeking both economic and diplomatic gains as regional demand for air defenses rises after the outbreak of the Iran war.
CNN and the Financial Times reported May 2, citing U.S. State Department materials released the previous day, that Secretary of State Marco Rubio approved the sales by bypassing congressional review, citing an “emergency.”
The accelerated sales are expected to include Patriot air defense missiles and advanced precision kill weapon systems, or APKWS, as well as the Integrated Battle Command System, or IBCS, for key regional partners including Israel, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Rubio said he had determined that an emergency exists requiring immediate sales to the countries and provided detailed justification. He said each sale “is in the national security interests of the United States” and therefore qualifies for a waiver of the congressional review requirement.
The State Department said all of the proposed sales support U.S. foreign policy and national security, and would help strengthen the security of strategic regional partners that have been important to political stability and economic development in the Middle East.
Since the Iran war began Feb. 28, Iran has carried out indiscriminate attacks on countries across the region, increasing the urgency for air defense and other countermeasures.
At the same time, the United States has also drawn down its own missile stockpiles, and deliveries to Europe are expected to slip. The Pentagon has already notified some European countries — including the United Kingdom, Poland, Lithuania and Estonia — that deliveries of certain missiles could be significantly delayed, the FT reported.
Separately, the United States and Iran have continued back-channel contacts on a ceasefire. Iran has proposed a new 14-point ceasefire plan that would end the war within 30 days, instead of the U.S. proposal to end it within two months.
Trump said he would soon review “the proposal Iran just sent us,” but added that it was hard to imagine it being accepted because, he said, Iran has not yet paid a sufficient price for what it has done to humanity and the world over the past 47 years.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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