The United States has announced the approval of $16.46 billion in military sales to the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, two Gulf states hit by the fallout from Washington and Tel Aviv’s war on Iran, AFP reports.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has “determined and provided detailed justification that an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale” of the military equipment, thereby waiving the requirement that Congress give its approval.

The biggest single sale is of lower-tier air and missile defence sensor radars — which are designed to track high-speed targets and give data to a missile defence network — for $8 bn, according to a statement from the State Department.

The next largest is to the United Arab Emirates for a long-range discrimination radar — which tracks ballistic missile threats — and related equipment at a cost of $4.5 billion, the State Department has said.

The UAE has also received approval to buy systems designed to defeat small, unmanned aircraft for $2.1bn, advanced air-to-air missiles for $1.22bn, and F-16 warplane munitions and upgrades for $644 million.