Washington approves large weapons shipment to Israel amid Iran tensions and Gaza operations

The United States has approved a major new weapons shipment to the Israeli Air Force, consisting of over 3,000 American-made munitions, Israeli officials confirmed on Monday. The delivery also includes an additional 10,000 munitions that had previously been frozen by the Biden administration but were released following President Donald Trump’s return to the Oval Office.

This substantial resupply is seen as vital for Israel’s military, which is working to replenish its stockpiles after more than 18 months of intense conflict with Iran and its terrorist proxies – Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.

The delivery comes as the Israeli military is expected to intensify its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. At the same time, Israel is reportedly preparing for a potential large-scale strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, should President Donald Trump’s current diplomatic efforts fail to halt the ayatollah regime’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.

In February 2025, the Trump administration asked Congress to approve military arms sale of bombs and engineering equipment to Israel amounting to $1 billion.

Trump emphasized that he was pushing for the release of military equipment that Israel had already paid for but was frozen by the Biden administration. 

“We released them. We released them today. And they’ll have them. They paid for them, and they’ve been waiting for them for a long time. They’ve been in storage,” Trump told media representatives. 

In early March, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio noted that the Trump administration has approved military sales to Israel amounting to almost $12 billion in total. 

“I have signed a declaration to use emergency authorities to expedite the delivery of approximately $4 billion in military assistance to Israel. The decision to reverse the Biden Administration’s partial arms embargo, which wrongly withheld a number of weapons and ammunition from Israel, is yet another sign that Israel has no greater ally in the White House than President Trump,” Rubio stated. 

The additional munitions are scheduled to start arriving to the Jewish state this year. Furthermore, the Israeli Air Force is also expected to start receiving Hellfire missiles in 2028. 

Israel remains one of America's closest allies, and for years, U.S. policy has focused on preserving the Jewish state's qualitative military edge over its adversaries in the volatile Middle East. U.S. officials have emphasized Washington's unwavering commitment to Israel’s security, while also assuring that the new arms deliveries to Jerusalem will not compromise the readiness of U.S. forces.

While the Iranian ayatollah regime remains Israel’s primary adversary, tensions with Turkey are also rising due to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s hostility toward the Jewish state and his support for Hamas, an internationally designated terrorist organization. Additionally, concerns are growing over a potential clash between Turkey and Israel, driven by their opposing interests in Syria.

The Trump administration is reportedly reconsidering the sale of fifth generation F-35 fighter jets to Turkey following bipartisan and Israeli concerns that such a sale would threaten Israel’s security and American interests in the region. 

Jonathan Schanzer, the executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, urged the Trump administration to withhold F-35 deliveries to Turkey. 

“Only America’s strongest allies should be allowed into the F-35 club,” Schanzer said. 

While Turkey is formally a NATO member state its current Islamist-oriented Erdogan administration is frequently siding with the enemies of the United States and the free Western world.