United States President Donald Trump’s administration has bypassed congressional review to approve military sales totalling over $8.6 billion to Middle Eastern allies Israel, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The State Department announcements on Friday came as the US and Israel’s war against Iran marked nine weeks since its start and more than three weeks since a fragile ceasefire came into effect. The State Department said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined that an emergency existed that required immediate sales to those countries and waived the congressional review requirements for the sales. The announcements included approving military sales to Qatar of Patriot air and missile defence replenishment services costing $4.01bn and of Advanced Precision Kill Weapon Systems (APKWS) costing $992.4 million. They also included approval of the sale to Kuwait of an integrated battle command system costing $2.5bn and to Israel of APKWS costing $992.4m. The State Department approved a sale to the UAE of APKWS for $147.6m. The US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. Iran responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf states that host US bases.

Gulf's fragile trade lifeline hangs on two eastern UAE ports By Sarah El Safty, Federico Maccioni and Amr Alfiky FUJAIRAH, May 6 (Reuters) - At the UAE port of Fujairah, conveyor belts offloaded grain from bulk carriers on Wednesday, while crude oil flowed through pipes and onto tankers berthed along its quay. Dozens of loaded trucks lined up near the port and others parked outside waiting their turn, while offshore, vessels labelled Cosco, Gardenia and other shipping lines lay at anchor, service boats weaving between them.