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The extensive use of advanced weaponry in the war against Iran has severely depleted United States military stockpiles and limited Washington’s ability to deter threats from both China and Russia, The Wall Street Journal reported on August 28.
Military planners said the drain on resources forced the U.S. European Command to adjust its operational plans. Officials assessed that the U.S. could not fully execute contingency plans to defend Taiwan if a military operation were required in the short term.
The transfer of air defense units to the Middle East from Japan, South Korea and Germany has created “soft spots” in the American global military posture that could take years to refill, according to officials cited by the Journal.
European inventories of PAC-3 Patriot interceptors and ATACMS ballistic missiles have fallen to “beyond critical” levels, some officials said.
THAAD anti-missile interceptors and counter-drone systems also have been redirected to the Middle East, further reducing supplies on the continent and sharply limiting the ability of Western nations to send interceptors to Ukraine amid continued Russian missile attacks, according to the report.
The White House and Pentagon denied any scarcity of munitions. The Trump administration said the U.S. military maintains enough resources to meet all of President Donald Trump’s goals.
A report published by The Washington Post earlier this month revealed that the U.S. fired off more than 850 Tomahawk cruise missiles and more than 1,000 Patriot and THAAD interceptors in the first month of the war on Iran.
The U.S. also used more than 1,300 ATACMS missiles in the initial weeks of fighting, according to the same report, which noted that the missile is drained to the extent that there’s basically none left.
The Trump administration has already proposed a $95 billion munitions request in the fiscal year 2027 defense budget, along with an additional $21 billion in a war supplemental request. However, production can take as long as two years, and there’s no immediate relief in sight for the shortages.
The war on Iran, which has entered its sixth month, has clearly degraded the military capabilities of the U.S. in a significant way, impacting the defense posture of all of Washington’s allies, from Europe to Eastern Asia.
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