WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department has approved arms sales packages worth more than $3.8 billion to Bahrain including F-16 jets, upgrades, missiles and patrol boats, the Pentagon said on Friday.

The approvals coincide with the State Department’s notification to Congress, which had held up a similar arms deal last year over human rights concerns.

The proposed sales include 19 F-16V jets made by Lockheed Martin Corp which could have a value of up to $2.7 billion, the Pentagon said.

Other potential sales approved Friday include two 35 meter (114 feet) patrol boats with machine guns, 221 anti-tank missiles made by Raytheon Co and $1.8 billion worth of upgrades to Bahrain’s existing fleet of F-16 jets, the Pentagon said in separate statements.

In May, U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington’s relations with Bahrain would improve, after meeting with the king of the Gulf Arab state during a visit to Saudi Arabia.

However in June, U.S. Senator Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he would block arms sales to members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, including Bahrain, until they made progress in resolving a simmering dispute with Qatar.

But a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity earlier on Friday, said the proposed sales were cleared by the Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs Committees through the regular “tiered review process” which precedes this formal notification.

The U.S. official also said the United States has regular discussions with Bahrain on human rights and political reform and continues to urge its government to pursue efforts that will enhance regional security. </s> WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US State Department approved more than $3.8 billion in military sales to the government of Bahrain, which includes F-16 aircraft upgrades, TOW missiles and patrol boats, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in a press release.

"The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Bahrain for F-16V aircraft with support," the release said on Friday. "The estimated cost is $2.785 billion."

Other sales include $27 million for TOW missiles and $60.25 million for 35 Meter Fast Patrol Boats, the release added.

The arms sales are meant to enhance Bahrain’s capability to deter regional threats and strengthen its homeland defenses, the release stated. </s> The US State Department approved more than $3.8 billion in military sales to the government of Bahrain, which includes F-16 aircraft upgrades, TOW missiles and patrol boats, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in a press release, Sputnik reported.

"The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Bahrain for F-16V aircraft with support," the release said on Friday. "The estimated cost is $2.785 billion."

The arms sales also include an upgrade of Bahrain’s Lockheed Martin F-16 jets estimated at a total cost of $1.082 billion, the release stated.

Other sales include $27 million for TOW missiles and $60.25 million for 35 Meter Fast Patrol Boats, the release added.

The arms sales are meant to enhance Bahrain’s capability to deter regional threats and strengthen its homeland defenses, the release stated. </s> The US State Department has approved $3.8 billion in weapons sales to the tiny island nation of Bahrain. The Pentagon confirmed the approval and the State Department has notified Congress, who held up a similar sale last year over Bahrain’s many, many human rights problems.

The $3.8 billion sale is almost entirely going to Lockheed Martin, who will be providing 19 F-16V fighter jets, along with substantial upgrades to the nation’s existing fleet of F-16s. Raytheon will be selling 221 anti-tank missiles to go with it.

Sales to Bahrain were supposed to be suspended, as Sen. Bob Corker (R – TN) had threatened to hold them all up until they resolved tensions with Qatar. In the end, however, Congress is said to have signed off through normal channels.

State Department officials insist that the US is continuing to discuss human rights issues with Bahrain, and is encouraging reform. That historically has never really been the case, as the US has largely turned a blind eye to Bahrain’s abuse of its Shi’ite population, viewing it as a cost of getting to host a major naval base there.

Bahrain had earlier today condemned Amnesty International for a report detailing their detention and torture of Shi’ite dissidents. Bahrain didn’t provide any details on their problem with the report, just that they “regretted” it being published.
• Syrian ISIS Fighters Flee Into Deir Ezzor for 'Last Stand' - September 8th, 2017
• Russia Says Several Top ISIS Commanders Killed in East Syria Airstrikes - September 8th, 2017 </s> The State Department on Thursday announced the sale of 6,700 anti-tank missiles to Saudi Arabia, hours after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to discuss the Saudi-led bombing of Yemen.

The State Department said it had notified Congress of the proposed sale, part of a $1 billion defense deal that also includes parts and maintenance support for Saudi tanks and helicopters.

The main contractor for the missiles is Tucson, Arizona-based Raytheon.

“This proposed sale will support U.S. foreign policy and national security objectives by improving the security of a friendly country which has been, and continues to be, an important force for political stability and economic growth in the Middle East,” the State Department said, adding that the deal “will not alter the basic military balance in the region.”

The deal comes almost three years to the day that Saudi Arabia, supported by the U.S., began a campaign of airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Rights group Amnesty International said Friday that arms deals were “irresponsible” because all parties to the conflict had “repeatedly violated international law.”

“There is extensive evidence that irresponsible arms flows to the Saudi Arabia-led coalition have resulted in enormous harm to Yemeni civilians,” it said in a statement, “But this has not deterred the USA, the U.K. and other states, including France, Spain and Italy, from continuing transfers of billions of dollars’ worth of such arms. As well as devastating civilian lives, this makes a mockery of the global Arms Trade Treaty.” </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump, saying there is a national emergency because of tensions with Iran, swept aside objections from Congress and cleared the sale of $8 billion worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.

The Trump administration informed congressional committees on Friday that it will go ahead with 22 military sales to the Saudis, United Arab Emirates and Jordan, infuriating lawmakers by circumventing a long-standing precedent for congressional review of such sales.

In documents sent to Congress and seen by Reuters, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo listed a wide range of products and services that would be provided to the three countries. They include Raytheon precision-guided munitions (PGMs), support for Boeing Co F-15 aircraft, and Javelin anti-tank missiles, which are made by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin Corp .

Some lawmakers and congressional aides had warned earlier this week that Trump, frustrated with Congress holding up weapons deals like the sale of the Raytheon-made bombs to the Saudis, was considering using a loophole in arms control law to go ahead by declaring a national emergency.

Lawmakers had been blocking sales of offensive military equipment to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for months, concerned about the huge civilian toll of the two countries’ air campaign in Yemen and human rights abuses like the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate in Turkey.

Congressional sources said Friday’s order included all the defense equipment that members of Congress had been blocking.

“I am disappointed, but not surprised, that the Trump Administration has failed once again to prioritize our long-term national security interests or stand up for human rights, and instead is granting favors to authoritarian countries like Saudi Arabia,” Senator Bob Menendez said in a statement.

Menendez is one of the members of Congress who reviews such sales because he is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Another, the Republican Foreign Relations Committee chairman, Senator Jim Risch, said he had received formal notification of the administration’s intent to move forward with “a number of arms sales.”

In a statement, Risch said, “I am reviewing and analyzing the legal justification for this action and the associated implications.”

The White House and State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In his memorandum to Congress justifying the sale, Pompeo listed years of actions by Iran. “Iranian malign activity poses a fundamental threat to the stability of the Middle East and to American security at home and abroad,” he wrote, and cited “a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings” from Tehran.

Congressional aides questioned the contention that the weapons had to do with Iran, saying the equipment and services listed by the administration includes large amounts of offensive weapons, like the PGMs and tank ammunition.

They said lawmakers have not been blocking defensive equipment such as Patriot missile defense systems that have been sold to the Saudis.

“This is all materiel that arguably could be used in the Yemen military operation. The defensive stuff we’ve cleared,” one congressional aide said. </s> FILE -- In this Sunday, May 21, 2017 file photo, U.S. President Donald Trump, right, meets with Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Trump's administration had approved a multibillion-dollar sale of F-16 fighter jets to Bahrain without the human rights conditions imposed by the State Department under President Barack Obama. On Tuesday May 23, 2017, Bahrain police raided a town where a sit-in has been going on for months supporting a prominent Shiite cleric who had his citizenship stripped by the government. Activists and rights group warn Trump's embrace of Bahrain only will fuel the crackdown. </s> Washington [US], May 25 (ANI): The United States on Friday verified authorization of USD8.1 billion in arms transfers to Saudi Arabia, Jordan and also the United Arab Emirates in the middle of hostilities with Iran.

The tools consists of airplane assistance upkeep; monitoring, knowledge, and also reconnaissance; artilleries; and also various other products, reported Sputnik.

“Today, acting in accordance with the authority granted to us by Congress, I made a determination under the Arms Export Control Act to formally notify Congress of 22 arms sales to Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. These directly protect U.S. citizens and our partners,”tweeted United States Secretary of State Pompeo.

“We presented some of these sales almost 18 months ago to Congress, but it has failed to act. The U.S. is and must remain, a reliable security partner in the Gulf and to our allies around the world. It’s fundamental to our national security,”he included.

This comes hrs after a United States Senator Bob Menendez claimed that United States President Donald Trump management has actually conjured up a stipulation in United States Sales arms regulation that would certainly enable the White House to market arms to Suadi Arabia by bypassing Congress.

Defying the Congress need, Trump had actually openly specified that he would certainly not finish assistance for the Saudi-led battle in Yemen.

United States President Donald Trump last month banned Congress resolution to finish United States participation in the Yemen War.

This advancement holds relevance as Washington is associated with the hazardous standoff. Its demand to have solid local allies in the area to discourage Iranian “threat”.

United States armed forces is boosting its existence between East. The United States has actually gotten service provider strike battleships and also B-52bombing planes off the coastline of Fujairah in the UAE to respond to a inexplicable and also supposed risk from Iran.

More soldiers have actually additionally been released in the Persian Gulf, among the globe’s most critical rivers, in what the United States authorities declared was a response to photos revealing Iran filling rockets onto tiny typical watercrafts, The Times of Israel reported. (ANI) </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican members of Congress pushed back on Wednesday against President Donald Trump's plan to sell $8 billion in weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, saying it was "unfortunate" the administration used an emergency declaration to avoid Congressional review.

Members of Congress had been blocking sales of military equipment to Saudi Arabia and the UAE for months, angry about the deaths of civilians in their air campaign in Yemen, as well as human rights abuses such as the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate in Turkey.

The ranking Republican on the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs committee, Michael McCaul, said at a hearing he supports "the efforts of Saudi Arabia to defend themselves against Iran," but "the recent use of this emergency authority, in my judgment, was unfortunate."

Another Republican, Representative Ann Wagner, asked for a better understanding of the administration's move to sidestep congressional oversight given Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses.

Citing an Iran-related emergency, the Trump administration told congressional committees on May 24 that it would go ahead with 22 military deals worth $8.1 billion to Saudi Arabia, UAE and Jordan, circumventing a long-standing precedent for lawmakers to review major weapons sales. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-saudi-arms/defying-congress-trump-sets-8-billion-plus-in-weapons-sales-to-saudi-arabia-uae-idUSKCN1SU25R

Democrats on the committee called the emergency declaration phony.

Defending the administration's position, assistant secretary of state for Political-military affairs Clarke Cooper told the committee in testimony: "This is an emergency, this is a one time event."

However, Cooper later said a "one time event is conditions based," and that this was the fifth time in history that such an emergency was used to push through the sale of weapons.

Cooper said that some of the weapons have already been sent to the customer since the emergency declaration and before Wednesday's hearing. "Anything that's what's called 'off then shelf' then it's already moving" to customers, Cooper said.

But Cooper said "there was nothing new in these 22 sales," indicating that the packages had been previously notified to Congress, but did not progress through the established channels for weapons sales notifications.

U.S. Senators have drafted 22 "resolutions of disapproval," one for each of the 22 arms deals. The resolutions https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-saudi-arms/republican-democratic-senators-seek-to-block-trump-saudi-arms-sales-idUSKCN1T61PL are intended to "protect and reaffirm Congress' role of approving arms sales to foreign governments."

Companies that would benefit include Raytheon Co precision-guided munitions (PGMs), support for Boeing Co F-15 aircraft, and Javelin anti-tank missiles, which are made by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin Corp.
The U.S. State Department has approved a package of potential arms sales worth more than USD$ 3.8 billion to the Kingdom of Bahrain including F-16 jets, upgrades, missiles and patrol boats.