State Department Bypasses Congress to Send Israel More Than 20,000 Bombs

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/06/us/politics/state-department-bomb-sale-israel.html

State Department Bypasses Congress to Send Israel More Than 20,000 Bombs
The sale had been under informal review in Congress, but the State Department declared an emergency because of the war in Iran.
By Edward Wong
March 6, 2026

The State Department is declaring an emergency with the war in Iran to bypass Congressional approval and sell more than 20,000 bombs to Israel that are valued at nearly $660 million, according to two current U.S. officials and a former official.

Israel is bombing Iran as part of a war that it started Feb. 28 with the United States to kill Iranian leaders and decimate the country’s ballistic missile program and nuclear sites, though Iran’s nuclear program was crippled by a U.S. attack last June.

The State Department issued a statement Friday night that said Secretary of State Marco Rubio has determined that “an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale” to Israel of 12,000 large bombs that are 1,000 pounds each. The Trump administration has not received authorization from Congress for the war in Iran.

The other parts of the sale include 10,000 bombs of 500 pounds each and 5,000 small-diameter bombs. These arms, along with services and accessories that are part of the sale, are valued at more than $500 million.

This is the first time that the second Trump administration has formally declared an emergency, allowed under the Arms Export Control Act, to bypass Congress to sell arms to Israel. The administration has bypassed the informal approval process in Congress three times to sell arms or send weapons aid to Israel, but previously has not declared an emergency.

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Does Israel actually pay anything for the billions of dollars' worth of weapons and ammo they're using to pulverize everything around them?