The US state department is declaring an emergency with the war in Iran to bypass Congressional approval and sell more than 20,000 bombs to Israel that are valued at nearly $660 million, according to two current US officials and a former official.

Israel is bombing Iran as part of a war that it started February 28 with the US to kill Iranian leaders and decimate the country’s ballistic missile programme and nuclear sites, though Iran’s nuclear programme was crippled by a US attack last June.

The state department issued a statement on Friday night that said secretary of state Marco Rubio has determined that “an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale” to Israel of 12,000 large bombs that are 453kg each. The Trump administration has not received authorisation from Congress for the war in Iran.

The other parts of the sale include 10,000 bombs of 226kg each and 5,000 small-diameter bombs. These arms, along with services and accessories that are part of the sale, are valued at more than $500 million.

The state department did not mention these details in the announcement, but two current US officials and a former, Josh Paul, who worked on weapons transfers at the state department, said they were part of the emergency sale. The current officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive arms transactions.

This is the first time that the second Trump administration has formally declared an emergency, allowed under the Arms Export Control Act, to bypass Congress to sell arms to Israel. The administration has bypassed the informal approval process in Congress three times to sell arms or send weapons aid to Israel, but previously has not declared an emergency.

In January, the state department bypassed Congress to announce that it was sending four weapons systems to Israel valued at $6.5 billion total. The packages included Apache attack helicopters and combat land vehicles. The weapons sale had been in the informal review process in two Congressional committees for months, but the state department decided to push through with the exports.

The US gives $3.8 billion in aid to Israel each year that Israel then uses to buy weapons. Those weapons systems are often but not always made by American companies. Sometimes Israel pays for its own weapons purchases from US companies.

In 2023, the Biden administration twice declared an emergency to send weapons to Israel. One package included 13,000 rounds of tank ammunition, and the second included artillery munitions. Those actions came after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 assault on Israel, which prompted Israel to bombard and invade Gaza.

New York Times News Service