WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has approved sales of thousands of air defense interceptor missiles and related services valued at $17 billion to Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, according to State Department and congressional officials. The exports were approved despite alarm among some Pentagon officials over the dwindling U.S. stockpiles of such missiles, which have been expended in large numbers during the war against Iran. Related The State Department gave formal notification of the sales to Congress last Friday. But it did not announce them in public statements, as it did with other arms sales to Israel and Gulf Arab nations that it authorized that day under an emergency provision. The packages of sales announced in news releases were valued at more than $8.6 billion, and the State Department said it was bypassing congressional approval to expedite them because of an emergency in the Middle East. In total, the State Department authorized about $25.7 billion in sales last Friday.…