Iran’s missile barrage tests whether U.S. has enough interceptors
The ability of the US, Israel and Gulf Arab states to weather Iran’s retaliatory strikes will depend on how many missile interceptors they have — and stocks are most likely dangerously low after intense combat with the Islamic Republic last year.
Tehran’s main means of offensive operations is long-range attacks with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones, all of which it launched after Israeli strikes in June 2025.
This time around, Iran reacted to US and Israeli attacks by almost immediately firing on Israel and countries including Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain.
Defending against such weapons requires an even bigger number of interceptors — typical military doctrine calls for firing two or three at each incoming target to maximize the chances of hitting it. Stocks of missile interceptors could be in danger of running low within days if the intensity of current Iranian attacks persists, according to a person familiar with the matter.
“Missile interceptors are a big concern, particularly anti-ballistic interceptors,” said Kelly Grieco, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center. “We are using these interceptors faster than we can make them.”
Dozens or more Iranian missiles were intercepted on Saturday around the region, but at least a few got through. The result of continued strikes is that if Iran has more missiles than its targets have interceptors, more attacks will start getting through.
“Magazine capacity was already low” for the US and its partner nations after last year, said William Alberque, a senior adjunct fellow at the Pacific Forum, a foreign policy research institute.
The US fired about 150 THAAD interceptors last June to defend Israel during the 12-day war against Iran, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Those weapons are the highest-end ground-based missile defense system in the American inventory, with each Lockheed Martin Corp. interceptor costing about $15 million. But only a few dozen were purchased last year.
Such weapons are designed to be able to take out ballistic missiles beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. The costs of firing hundreds of them — as well as other types of interceptors — is enormous. In April 2024, Bloomberg reported that it probably cost Israel — as well as the American, British, French and Jordanian air forces — around $1.1 billion to foil missile and drone attacks from Iran. That was for a few hours’ work.
The US and Israeli militaries will try to reduce the number of missiles and launchers Iran has available, and kill top commanders to prevent their use.
The question of which side can outlast the other is a sobering one, said Eyal Pinko, a former naval commander who does research at Bar Ilan University outside Tel Aviv.
“A lot more attacks are coming,” he said in a briefing to the Jerusalem Press Club. “They have thousands of missiles and drones, huge stocks. They will do everything to maintain the regime. This is now an all-out war for their survival.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com