US authorises $151.8m emergency munitions sale to Israel, waiving congressional review
The US State Department Bureau of Military Political-Military Affairs has announced that it is approving “a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Israel to buy Munitions and Munitions Support.” The estimated total cost is $151.8 million.
“The Government of Israel has requested to buy twelve thousand (12,000) BLU-110A/B general purpose, 1,000-pound bomb bodies,” the bureau said in a statement. “The following non-major defence equipment items will also be included: US government and contractor engineering, logistics, and technical support services; and other related elements of logistics and programme support.”
The emergency weapons sale is seen as acting in the best interests of the United States’ national security, as justified by the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, that “an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale to the Government of Israel of the above defence articles and defence services is in the national security interests of the United States, thereby waiving the Congressional review requirements under Section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act, as amended.”
According to the US Department of State’s report on the Fiscal Year 2024 U.S. Arms Transfers and Defence Trade, the total value of Foreign Military Sales (FMS) was $117.9 billion.
This total included $96.9 billion funded by allies, $11.8 billion funded through the Foreign Military Financing program (US taxpayer-funded), and $9.2 billion through other Department of Defence programs.
In 2024, the US authorised a major arms transfer to Israel, highlighted by an $18.8 billion deal for F-15IA and F-15I+ aircraft, alongside thousands of precision-guided munitions and bombs.
These sales, totalling over $20 billion in approved, but not yet fully delivered, equipment, were designed to boost Israel’s long-term military capacity and maintain its defence capabilities as it carried out military operations in Gaza and the West Bank.
Read: Israel launches ‘broad-scale’ strikes on Tehran as Iran fires new missile wave
The US-Israel war with Iran began two weeks ago when Israel struck Iran, and Iran retaliated by attacking US military bases in the Gulf region.
Israel has since then extended its bombing to Lebanon to root out Hezbollah. Hezbollah fired on Israel this week to avenge the death of Khamenei.
Israel has intervened in Lebanon repeatedly over the decades, most recently in 2024. But the ferocity of Friday’s strikes had little precedent. About 300,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon in the past four days, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Inside Israel, explosions could be heard as Israeli defences activated to shoot down incoming Iranian fire. The UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia all reported fresh drone and missile attacks.
The Israeli military says it has destroyed 80% of Iran’s air-defence systems in the first week of the campaign and disabled more than 60% of its missile launchers.
