The war against Iran has not only drained American arsenals, but is opening a deep crack within NATO. According to a Reuters exclusive, the Pentagon is considering retaliatory measures against allies who have denied support for the military operation, while an internal report photographs a worrying reduction in weapons supplies, with direct repercussions on the eastern flank of Europe and, above all, on the Indo-Pacific front.
US ready to punish reluctant NATO allies
The United States is considering options to punish NATO countries that refused to help in the war against Iran. This was stated by a US official to the Reuters news agency, according to which an internal Pentagon email describes the options available to the US to sanction NATO allies who, in their opinion, did not support the military operation in Iran.
Among the options on the table would be suspending Spain from the Alliance and reviewing the American position on Britain’s claim to the Falkland Islands. Other options are detailed in a report that expresses frustration with the perceived reluctance or refusal of several US allies to grant them access to, for example, bases or flights through their airspace under the NATO treaty.
Madrid’s response: «We don’t rely on emails»
The response from the Spanish government arrived shortly. «We don’t rely on emails. We rely on official documents and government positions, in this case from the United States.” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said this on the sidelines of the informal EU summit in Cyprus, when asked about the internal Pentagon email revealed by Reuters exclusively, which would hypothesize measures against Madrid, including a possible suspension from NATO, to punish it for its position in the war with Iran.
Collapsed weapons stocks: alarm over a possible conflict with China
If the United States were to face a war with China tomorrow, it would find itself short of weapons, and this worries Taiwan quite a bit. According to the New York Times, citing a Pentagon report, US ammunition supplies have been significantly reduced due to the war with Iran. The US military has expended thousands of missiles, which severely weakens operational readiness for other potential conflicts, and the conflict in the Gulf has forced it to rapidly move bombs and missiles from bases in Asia and Europe to the Middle East.
According to estimates, the United States has consumed 1,100 long-range stealth cruise missiles, built specifically for the war with China, 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles (about 10 times the number it currently buys each year), 1,200 Patriot interceptor missiles – each costing more than $4 million – and 1,000 precision missiles, leaving stockpiles at worryingly low levels. Some sources estimate that the United States spent between $28 and $35 billion during the war, nearly a billion dollars a day.
The war has also exposed the Pentagon’s reliance on extremely expensive interceptors and air defense munitions, and it is still unclear whether the US defense industry can develop low-cost weapons, particularly drones, anytime soon, the New York Times said. To deal with the deterioration of arms supplies, the United States has turned to automakers to involve them in the production of armaments, as was customary during World War II, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Weakened Europe: the defense of NATO’s eastern flank at risk
All regional military commanders are feeling the pressure of dwindling ammunition supplies. In Europe, according to Pentagon information reviewed by the New York Times, the war has led to a decline in weapons systems crucial to the defense of NATO’s eastern flank from Russian aggression. One problem defined as serious was the loss of reconnaissance and attack drones. The demands of war have also reduced exercises and training, compromising the ability to conduct offensive operations in Europe, as well as deterring potential Russian attacks.
Biggest impact in Asia: aircraft carriers and Marines diverted to the Middle East
But the biggest impact was felt on troops in Asia. Before the war with Iran, American military commanders had repositioned the Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group from the South China Sea to the Middle East. Since then, two Marine expeditionary units, each with about 2,200 men, have been sent to the Middle East from the Pacific.
The Pentagon has also moved sophisticated air defense systems from Asia to strengthen protection against Iranian drones and rockets: in addition to Patriot missiles, also THAAD interceptors deployed in South Korea, the only Asian ally to host this advanced missile defense system to counter the growing missile threat from North Korea. US operational readiness in the Pacific had already been compromised by the deployment of ships and aircraft to the war between Israel and Gaza, and after Houthi militias in Yemen began attacking shipping in the Red Sea.
The campaign against the Houthis cost over a billion dollars
The month-long bombing campaign against the Houthis last year was far larger in scale than the Trump administration initially said. The Pentagon consumed about $200 million in munitions in the first three weeks alone, US officials said. The overall costs of the operation far exceeded $1 billion, including operating and personnel expenses.
American ships and aircraft, as well as military personnel, are subjected to a high operational tempo. Even routine maintenance of equipment becomes problematic under these grueling conditions. During a Senate hearing, Adm. Samuel J. Paparo Jr., head of the military’s Indo-Pacific Command, largely sidestepped the issue of supply shortages, merely acknowledging that “munitions reserves have limited capacity.”