An American official told The Washington Post that the Pentagon is preparing for a wider war with Iran, days after three US service members were killed in Jordan and Iraq, according to The Times of Israel.
The official said dwindling stockpiles of air defense and long-range munitions, along with limited troop and aircraft surge capacity, would constrain expanded operations, warning that current supplies cannot safely sustain the campaign, according to The Times of Israel.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has repeatedly rejected shortage concerns, telling reporters the US has no munitions shortage and that stockpiles could sustain the war indefinitely, according to ABC News.
A CSIS analysis of the war’s first 39 days found the US had expended roughly half its Patriot interceptor stock and 20 to 24 percent of its SM-3 and SM-6 inventory, with full Patriot replenishment projected to take three years, according to CSIS.
The Pentagon’s official casualty count stood at 16 to 17 dead as of July 19 and 20, while independent tracking put the toll at 15 killed and 520 to 543 wounded, according to Military Spend’s Iran War Casualties Tracker.
The current escalation began July 8, when Washington resumed strikes after Iran hit a commercial vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, breaking a ceasefire extended by a June memorandum of understanding, according to the NZ Herald.
