The New York Center for Foreign Policy Affairs filed a lawsuit against US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to prevent the sale of US weapons worth $ 23 billion to the United Arab Emirates.
The lawsuit - which was filed by the center before the Federal Court in Washington - says that Pompeo, who is responsible for the State Department's approvals of arms deals with other countries, rushed to complete this deal without oversight and no appropriate justification.
The center - a non-profit research institution - is seeking to issue a court ruling obliging Pompeo and the State Department to cancel the deal because it did not go through the established pass-through procedures, and thus it is a violation of the US Administrative Procedure Act.
The US Senate had failed to block the deal earlier this month, despite its opposition to the sale of F-35s and US drones to the UAE as part of the peace agreement between the UAE and Israel, according to Bloomberg News.
In his approval of the deal, Pompeo said that these weapons would meet "the UAE's needs for obtaining advanced defense capabilities to deter and defend itself in the face of growing threats from Iran, and that this deal will make the UAE more capable and willing to cooperate with US partners."
He added that the deal would be approved if it "would enhance security for the United States and world peace," as required by the US Arms Export Control Act.
It is noteworthy that the outgoing President Donald Trump's administration approved the day before yesterday, Tuesday, possible arms deals worth billions of dollars to 3 Arab countries, namely Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Egypt.