Is the U.S. running out of ammunition? Senior U.S. officials have stated that the country's missile stockpiles are nearly depleted! On July 26, according to a report by The New York Times, Trump has canceled plans to significantly escalate war with Iran, due to concerns that Iranian attacks could further jeopardize the Pentagon’s already drastically reduced inventory of Patriot anti-ballistic interceptors and other air defense munitions in the Middle East—stockpiles that are now almost exhausted to zero.
Foreign media reports indicate that the Pentagon has already used over 1,200 Patriot interceptors in combat, each costing more than $4 million. General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, privately warned that resuming large-scale military operations would completely exhaust the interceptors available to U.S. Central Command. The ongoing strikes have had the opposite effect from what was expected: instead of weakening Iran, they have helped maintain its cohesion, enabling Iranian leaders to focus their attention on external threats.
It is clear that just after Trump issued strong statements against Iran, U.S. strikes against Iran abruptly ceased—this has indeed surprised observers. In fact, media reports have revealed that the U.S. has already requested a temporary ceasefire with Iran. Now it appears the real reason is that the U.S. cannot keep up with replenishing its ammunition stocks. Of course, what’s surprising is that ammunition inventories are classified military secrets; yet such private warnings have surfaced in public reports. Whether this is a deliberate smoke screen released by the U.S. remains unclear.
Going deeper, releasing news about ammunition shortages may very well be a tactic used by the U.S. to exert internal pressure. To secure approval for increased defense spending and accelerate the expansion of missile production capacity, congressional consent is required. Indeed, while the U.S. has not succeeded in achieving its goal of forcing Iran to submit, it still maintains control over the initiative in the conflict. Therefore, the U.S. has no problem disclosing information about insufficient ammunition supplies—after all, only the U.S. truly knows exactly how much ammunition it has.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1871734734263308/
Disclaimer: This article represents the personal views of its author.