US President Donald Trump's administration has bypassed congressional review to approve military ‌sales totaling over $8.6 billion to Middle Eastern allies Israel, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE.

The State Department announcements on Friday came as the US and Israel's war against Iran marked nine weeks since its start and more than three weeks ​since a fragile ceasefire came into effect, reported Reuters.

The State Department said US Secretary of State Marco ​Rubio determined that an emergency existed that required immediate sales to those countries and ⁠waived the congressional review requirements for the sales.

The announcements included approving military sales to Qatar of Patriot air and missile defense replenishment services costing $4.01 billion and of Advanced Precision Kill Weapon Systems (APKWS) — a laser-guided weapons kit — costing $992.4 million.

They also included approval of the sale to Kuwait of an integrated battle command system costing $2.5 billion and to Israel of Advanced Precision Kill Weapon Systems costing $992.4 million.

The State Department approved a sale to the UAE of APKWS for $147.6 million.

The principal contractor in the APKWS sales to Qatar, Israel and the UAE was BAE Systems, the State Department said.

RTX and Lockheed Martin were the principal contractors in the integrated battle command system sale to Kuwait and in the Patriot air and missile defense replenishment sale to Qatar, the State Department added.

Northrop Grumman was also a principal contractor in the Kuwaiti sale.

Meanwhile, Washington has warned European allies, including the UK, Poland, Lithuania and Estonia, to expect long delivery delays for US weapons as the war against Iran drains stockpiles, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Throughout the war with Iran, Israel and Washington’s Gulf allies came under attack from Iranian missiles and drones.