Donald Trump is bypassing Congress to clear the sale of $7 billion-worth of arms to Saudi Arabia citing the growing threat to the region from Iran.
The Trump administration has invoked a rarely used provision in US federal law to bypass congressional review of arms sales.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo notified Congress of the decision to use an emergency loophole in the Arms Export Control Act to move ahead with sales of $7 billion (£5.4 billion) in weapons and aircraft maintenance support to Saudi Arabia, along with the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, without legislators' approval.
In his notification, Mr Pompeo said he had made the determination "that an emergency exists which requires the immediate sale" of the weapons "in order to deter further the malign influence of the government of Iran throughout the Middle East region".
He said the transfers "must occur as quickly as possible in order to deter further Iranian adventurism in the Gulf and throughout the Middle East".