Trump Approves $8.6 Billion Military Sales To West Asian Allies, Including Israel

The United States has approved military sales worth $8.6 billion to key West Asian allies, including Israel, Qatar, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates, reportedly bypassing congressional review.

The US State Department announced the arms sales on Friday (May 1, 2026). The approvals come amid the West Asian war with Iran.

The war, which has prolonged beyond two months now, and regional tensions remain very high, with both sides blowing hot in recent days despite a fragile ceasefire for over three weeks now.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump on Friday (May 1) said he considers it “treasonous” for critics to claim that he was not winning the war against Iran. The Trump administration earlier informed Congress that hostilities had terminated.
 
Speaking in Florida, Trump criticised political opponents for questioning the effectiveness of the US military campaign. “We get the radical left to say, ‘We’re not winning, we’re not winning.’ They don’t have any military left. It’s unbelievable,” Trump said.

“It’s actually, it’s actually, I believe it’s treasonous, okay. You want to know the truth? It’s treasonous,” he said. Trump also referred to the January US military action in Venezuela, which he claimed was “one of the greatest military movements in history,” while drawing comparisons to the current conflict with Iran.

“We’re doing just about as well in Iran,” he said. “But I don’t like talking about it until the jobs are finished,” he said. Trump said that the military action was taken against Iran’s nuclear programme to save the Gulf region, including Israel, from the threat posed if Tehran had been successful in having a nuclear weapon.

“Because we have to take a little journey down to a beautiful country known as Iran, and we have to make sure that they don’t have a nuclear weapon. We stopped them with the B2 bombers. If we didn’t do that, they would’ve had a nuclear weapon. Israel, the Middle East, and Europe would have been blown to pieces,” he added.

He also claimed Iran’s military capacity had been significantly degraded, with the claim that the Iranian leadership had been weakened. “And Iran is getting decimated. They have no navy. They have no air force. They have no anti-aircraft equipment. They have no radar. They have no leaders; their leaders are all gone,” Trump said.

Trump said negotiations with Iran were not progressing as desired.”They’re not coming through with the kind of deal that we have to have, and we’re going to get this thing done properly,” he said. He also stressed that the United States would not end the conflict prematurely. “We’re not going to leave early and have this kind of problem arise in three more years,” Trump said.