Washington, March 7 (IANS) The US State Department said that it has approved a possible Foreign Military Sale to Israel of munitions and related support services, including 12,000 aerial bombs.
The deal is worth about 151.8 million US dollars, the department said in a statement.
Israel has requested to purchase 12,000 BLU-110A/B general purpose, 1,000-pound bomb bodies, reports Xinhua news agency, quoting the US State Department statement.
“The Secretary of State (Marco Rubio) has determined and provided detailed justification that an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale to the Government of Israel of the above defense articles and defense 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,” it said.
“The proposed sale will improve Israel’s capability to meet current and future threats, strengthen its homeland defence, and serve as a deterrent to regional threats,” it added.
The package also includes US government and contractor engineering, logistics, technical support services, and other related elements of logistics and program support, said the statement.
The United States and Israel launched massive attacks on Iran on February 28, killing Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, multiple senior military commanders and hundreds of civilians. Iran has responded with multiple waves of missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and US assets across the region.
As tensions sharply escalated between the United States, Israel and Iran, the conflict entered its eighth day, with Israel carrying out a fresh round of strikes while explosions were reported at one of Tehran’s main commercial airports.
The confrontation, which began on February 28 with a strike in Tehran, has steadily widened in scope. What initially appeared to be a series of aerial exchanges has now expanded into a broader theatre of conflict, including drone attacks taking place across the Gulf region.
US President Donald Trump adopted a hardline stance on the crisis, stating that there would be “no deal” with Iran unless it offered what he described as “unconditional surrender”.
He further suggested that after such a capitulation, Iran should move toward selecting a new leadership that would be acceptable to his administration.
–IANS
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