President Donald Trump sure looks like he intends to leave the world a very different place than he found it in January of 2025. From Venezuela to Cuba to the Middle East, he's dropping a lot of opprobrium on countries that aren't friendly to the United States - and making deals with countries that are, or who we want to be, friends of the USA.
In the latest such move, President Trump's Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has greenlit a massive, $8 billion arms sale to Israel and several Gulf Arab states, citing that the deal is in the national security interests of the USA.
The State Department on Friday approved over $8 billion in arms sales to Persian Gulf countries and Israel, nations that have all been involved in the U.S.-Israeli conflict in Iran.
Purchases approved included an Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) to the United Arab Emirates for $147.6 million, to Israel for $992.4 million and to Qatar for $992.4 million. The State Department also approved the replenishment of Qatar’s Patriot missile capacity for $4.01 billion and an Integrated Battle Command System to Kuwait for $2.5 billion.
The APKWS includes rocket launchers, high explosive warheads and proximity fuzes, among other items, to the UAE and Qatar; technical data, spare and repair parts, personnel training and training equipment and U.S. government and contractor engineering, among other items, to Israel and Qatar.
Defense equipment to be sold to Kuwait include communications equipment, generators, vehicles, training equipment including an air defense reconfigurable trainer and field office support, among other items.
There is no mention of Iran in the report, but these are all nations that Iran has attacked during Operation Epic Fury. What makes this interesting is that, while the Patriot is an air-defense system, several of these systems can be used offensively. For example, the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System is a laser-guided rocket system designed to take out light armored vehicles and is capable of use in both defensive and offensive work.
Also, the Secretary of State points out that the national security requirements of the sale mean that the deal precludes Congressional review:
Secretary of State Marco Rubio “determined and provided detailed justification that an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale to” each country, the State Department stated. Each sale “is in the national security interests of the United States, thereby waiving the Congressional review requirements…”
The United States and Iran currently have a cease-fire in place, but this looks a lot like some preparatory chess pieces moving.
Read More: Trump Drops a Cuba Bombshell — Joke or Warning Shot?
Trump Turns the Screws on Iran After Their Last Offer
This announced sale comes on the release of $400 million in support for Ukraine, and a $10 billion weapons sale to Taiwan late in 2025.
Global military spending hit a record high of almost $2.9 trillion in 2025, the 11th consecutive year that it has grown, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The U.S. spent $954 billion for military purposes in 2025, a 7.5-percent drop from 2024.
Between China's saber-rattling at Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan, the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War, and now the United States and Israel working to defenestrate the vicious theocrats in Tehran, the world is looking to be an increasingly tense place these days. Some (China) are doubtless looking at this with the old saw, "for omelets, you break eggs." Some, like President Trump, are looking to take out some of the world's worst actors, as well as nations actively working against American interests. That's pretty much the foreign-policy definition of "America first," after all.
Keep an eye on the Middle East.
Editor's Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.
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