The U.S. has approved $8.6 billion worth of arms for Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar and Israel -- sidestepping Congress by invoking emergency powers, according to notices published by the State Department.

The State Department notified Congress it was using its authorities for the sales, including $4 billion worth of Patriot missile interceptors for Qatar.

Since the outset of the war in Iran, the administration has used the authority for billions of dollars' worth of sales to the UAE, Israel and Kuwait.

Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the administration was "using the veneer of an emergency declaration to push through sales with no urgent nexus to current conflicts."

-ABC News' Chris Boccia

Iran’s armed forces say it is "likely" the U.S.-Israel war on the country will resume as "evidence shows the US is not committed to any agreements or treaties."

"The actions and statements of U.S. officials are primarily media-driven aimed first at preventing a drop in oil prices and second at extricating themselves from the mess they have created," Mohammad Jafar Asadi, deputy of the military headquarters, said in a statement carried by Iran’s Fars news agency.

"The armed forces are fully prepared for any new adventures or foolishness from the Americans."

-ABC News's Lama Hasan

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a warning to shippers on Friday that fulfilling any demand for an Iranian toll in exchange for passage through the Strait of Hormuz risks exposure to U.S. sanctions.

"OFAC is issuing this alert to warn U.S. and non-U.S. persons about the sanctions risks of making these payments to, or soliciting guarantees from, the Iranian regime for safe passage. These risks exist regardless of payment method," its alert said.

Demands to pay a toll could come in a variety of ways, including "fiat currency, digital assets, offsets, informal swaps, or other in-kind payments," such as charitable donations to the Iranian Red Crescent Society, the alert said.

The OFAC also reiterated that the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports remains in effect.

The alert comes as shipping traffic through the critical shipping channel remains at a virtual standstill and the indefinite ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran drags on without a clear resolution to the war -- or a full reopening of the strait -- in sight.

-ABC News' Nicholas Kerr

President Donald Trump has sent letters alerting Congress that he "will continue to direct United States Armed Forces consistent with my responsibilities and pursuant to my constitutional authority to conduct United States foreign relations and as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive."

Despite facing the 60-day deadline under the War Powers Act, the president is not asking Congress for authorization, rather providing an update to the posture of U.S. forces in the region.

Echoing Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth, the president noted that he ordered a two-week ceasefire on April 7 that has since been extended.

"On April 7, 2026, I ordered a 2-week ceasefire. The ceasefire has since been extended," Trump wrote. "There has been no exchange of fire between United States Forces and Iran since April 7, 2026. The hostilities that began on February 28, 2026, have terminated."

Trump also stressed that he ordered Operation Epic Fury "consistent with my responsibility to protect Americans and United States interests at home and abroad, and in furtherance of United States national security and foreign policy interests."

Secretary Marco Rubio suggested to Fox News in an interview on Monday that Iran's peace proposal falls short of the U.S. conditions for ending the war, now entering its third month.

Two officials familiar with the matter told ABC News that the Iranian proposal consists of a loosening of Tehran's grip on the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for the lifting of the U.S. blockade. Talks on Iran's nuclear program would then be pushed back to an unspecified future date, Tehran's proposal suggested.

Rubio, though, said the nuclear issue was at the heart of the U.S. position. "The nuclear question is the reason why we're in this in the first place," Rubio said.

Rubio also said the U.S. would not allow Tehran to retain control over the Strait of Hormuz, or to continue to charge tolls to shipping passing through.

"Those are international waterways. They cannot normalize, nor can we tolerate them trying to normalize, a system in which the Iranians decide who gets to use an international waterway and how much you have to pay them to use it," he said.

Rubio underscored U.S. concerns about the regime's ability to agree to a deal and the status of new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

"One of the impediments here is that our negotiators aren't just negotiating with Iranians. Those Iranians then have to negotiate with other Iranians in order to figure out what they can agree to, what they can offer, what they're willing to do, even who they're willing to meet with," Rubio said.

Asked whether he believed Mojtaba Khamenei was still alive, Rubio replied, "We have indications that he is. Obviously they claim that he is. We don't have evidence that he's not."

"I think the question between alive and in power are two different questions. You can be alive -- but I think the unresolved questions here are does he have the same credibility as his father did," Rubio said.

Rubio also suggested that the Iranian proposal may not have the backing of all factions jostling for influence in Tehran. "I think there are still questions about whether the person submitting it had the authority to submit that offer," he said.

Nonetheless, Rubio said he believed the Iranians "are serious about getting themselves out of the mess that they're in."

-ABC News' Shannon K. Kingston