The United States is pushing a large-scale arms sale to Middle Eastern countries under retaliatory attack by Iran.
On the 19th, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that the United States is moving forward with plans to sell a total of $23 billion (about 34 trillion won) in weapons to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait and Jordan.
According to the State Department, the UAE is set to receive air defense systems, bombs and radar, while Kuwait will receive about $8 billion (about 11.9 trillion won) worth of air defense equipment. A $70.5 million (about 1 trillion won) sale of aircraft and ammunition support equipment to Jordan was also approved.
The Donald Trump administration was also said to have approved, in addition to the disclosed transaction, the sale to the UAE of $6.5 billion (about 8.3 trillion won) worth of Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC)-3 missiles and $1.32 billion (about 2 trillion won) worth of CH-47 Chinook helicopters. It also approved the sale of the Predator XP, the export version of defense contractor General Atomics' MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (drone).
The WSJ said the Trump administration decided to push these arms sales to support Middle Eastern allies that have become the focus of Iran's concentrated retaliatory attacks. For some transactions involving the UAE in particular, the Trump administration decided to invoke the "emergency provision" of the Arms Export Control Act, skipping the usual congressional review process to sell the weapons quickly.
The State Department said the arms sale will strengthen the UAE's ability to respond to threats.