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.