US has only 25 percent of Patriot interceptors needed for Pentagon planning: Report
According to the report, deputy defence secretary Stephen Feinberg was so alarmed by the dwindling reserves that he ordered transfers to be halted while the Pentagon reviewed deliveries to US partners.
Middle East Eye was the first to reveal during the recent Israel-Iran conflict that US officials were concerned about the pace at which they were using interceptors to defend Israel from ballistic missile attacks.
A US official told MEE at the time that there were concerns a direct US strike on Iran could lead to bigger retaliation from the Islamic Republic, which would drain the US's stockpile to a 'horrendous' level.
The conflict between Israel and Iran culminated in limited US strikes on Iran's Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan nuclear sites. Iran responded by informing the US via Qatar that it would fire 14 ballistic missiles at al-Udeid air base, southwest of Doha.
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According to open-source defence analysts, the US was expected to fire two to four interceptors for each missile fired. The Guardian reported that the US fired close to 30 patriot interceptors, or PAC-3s, to down the Iranian barrage. Even this relatively low number exacerbated the stockpile shortages, the report said.
Dan Caine, US Air Force general and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, told The War Zone news site that the operation to defend al-Udeid from Iran's symbolic attack was the 'largest single Patriot engagement in US military history'.
Iran receives Chinese surface-to-air missile batteries after Israel ceasefire deal Read More »
The relatively low numbers involved underscore just how precious a commodity Patriot missiles are, particularly at a time of increasing ballistic missile use in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
In 2024, Lockheed Martin reported that it produced and delivered 500 interceptors, a 30 percent increase from the previous year.
In addition to firing Patriots during the conflict, the US joined in Israel's defence, using at least one Terminal High-Altitude Area Defence antimissile battery in the region and ship-mounted SM-3 interceptors.
Roughly a week after the Israel-Iran conflict, the Trump administration confirmed reports that it had suspended the delivery of air defence interceptors and other weapons to Ukraine as it faced massive Russian air strikes.
The shipments to Ukraine were halted when they were in Poland, The Wall Street Journal reported, and included Patriot air defence interceptors, air-to-air missiles, artillery rounds, Stinger surface-to-air missiles and Hellfire air-to-ground missiles.
The suspension of Hellfire missiles to Ukraine is notable because just days before Israel launched its surprise attack on Iran in June, the US delivered hundreds of Hellfire missiles to Israel. MEE exclusively reported on the delivery.
US President Donald Trump on Monday reversed the decision to halt shipments, stating that the US would send additional defensive supplies to Ukraine. However, he did not provide details on the weapons systems or numbers.
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'The people of Gaza have been bombed out of their homes, lost their loved ones, starved and shot at when they try to get food. 'Israel will be using all this cruelty to force people to leave, and to remove their right to return as they have from previous generations of Palestinians.' Tony Blair Institute linked to Gaza plan condemned as ethnic cleansing: Report Read More » Diamond said that it is well established under IHL that forcible displacements can be brought about by a coercive environment. 'When a party creates conditions that compel people to move to avert conditions that threaten their lives or wellbeing, their decision to move is not a genuine choice,' he said. 'This is no more voluntary than the decision of a person who hands over their wallet to a gun robber saying 'your money or your life.'' So far, Israel has failed to find any countries willing to take displaced Palestinians from Gaza. 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He said that Israel had already concentrated Palestinians in less than 20 percent of Gaza, and imposed conditions on them 'that bring about their physical destruction'. 'The evidence that Israel has been committing a genocide is overwhelming,' Sultany said. Shaw, author of War and Genocide, What is Genocide and Genocide and International Relations, agreed. 'Concentrating the civilian population in the way Israel proposes is clearly an act of genocide,' he said. He added that Katz's proposal was designed to 'consolidate the results' of Israeli killings over the past 21 months by heading towards 'removing the survivors so as to complete the destruction of Palestinian society in Gaza". 'The destruction of a society is, of course, the very meaning of genocide.'
