US has exhausted almost all interceptor missiles, reserves at 'dangerous level'

The US military has exhausted almost 80% of the interceptor missiles in one of its main missile defense systems, while top US military commanders are warning that the Pentagon's ammunition stockpiles have fallen to "extremely dangerous" levels, according to several sources familiar with the situation, wrote. CNN.

According to two well-known sources, the US military has used almost four-fifths of its THAAD missile stockpile compared to the level it had before the war, as well as about half of its Patriot interceptor missiles, since the beginning of the conflict.

The fact that THAAD stocks have fallen to this level had not been previously reported.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) estimates that the United States had about 2.200 Patriot missiles (of the two most modernized variants of this system) and 452 THAAD missiles in reserve before the war with Iran began.

Even US allies in the Persian Gulf have expressed new concerns that the lack of air defense systems could affect their ability to counter a potential Iranian retaliation if President Donald Trump decides to escalate the ongoing conflict.

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Some of these countries rely on American air defense systems and have acknowledged that a lack of reserves could weaken their ability to intercept Iranian missiles and drones that could be launched at them, especially if they become targets in response to an escalation by the United States, several officials have said.

The issue of ammunition stockpiles has come up again ahead of the president's decision last weekend to call off new strikes on Iran. The decision marks at least the second time in recent weeks that Trump's top military advisers have expressed specific concerns about the depletion of key U.S. munitions during discussions about the possibility of escalating conflict with Iran.

According to a source familiar with recent internal Pentagon reports, the US military has also used "virtually all" of its long-range, high-precision surface-to-air weapons during this conflict. 

Reuters was the first to report on specific concerns about the US stockpile of long-range precision missiles.

The recent warnings about the ammunition shortage, along with other intelligence presented to Trump about the potential negative consequences of striking Iran's critical infrastructure, including energy-related targets, as well as concerns expressed by Gulf countries, have been compelling enough to influence some of Trump's most hardline advisers to believe there was reason to cancel the planned weekend operations, the sources said.

On Friday, Trump was planning to proceed with massive strikes and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had received the final order to act, according to a senior Trump administration official.

However, Trump decided to back down after speaking on Saturday with allies in the Middle East who had expressed fears of Iranian retaliation, specifically retaliatory attacks on their energy infrastructure, the official said. Trump agreed to listen to them, as well as the Iranian side. He then asked Hegseth not to act for the time being, but did not rule out the possibility of carrying out the planned strikes at a later date.

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"The US military is the most powerful in the world and possesses everything it needs to act at the time and place the president chooses," Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement to CNN.

"We have conducted numerous successful operations under combatant commands, while ensuring that the U.S. military has a broad arsenal of capabilities to protect our people and interests," he added.