Israel has informed the U.S. that it is critically low on ballistic missile interceptors, U.S. officials told Semafor. Israel entered the current war with interceptor stocks already depleted from last summer’s conflict, and Iran’s ongoing attacks have accelerated the drain. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar denied the shortage on Sunday.
Consider the scale of interceptor expenditure. The U.S. fired over 150 THAAD interceptors during last year’s 12-day war, burning through roughly a quarter of its inventory at the time, and is estimated to have fired around $2.4 billion worth of Patriot interceptors in just the first five days of the current conflict.
Will Washington share additional interceptors with Israel, at further cost to its own reserves? Officials insist U.S. stocks remain sufficient. “We have all that we need to protect our bases and our personnel in the region,” one official said. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed U.S. stockpiles are “more than enough” to achieve Trump’s goals “and beyond.”
