Trump races to crush Iran in high-stakes gamble as missile stockpiles run dry

Sources say Donald Trump has been warned that America’s missile and interceptor stockpiles could be depleted if the war in Iran is prolonged.

Military insiders said Trump had been warned that a full-blown, resource-draining war in Iran could put U.S. objectives at risk if Iran’s missile and drone capabilities were not quickly destroyed. Wall Street Magazine.

Current and former military officials said the U.S. missile stockpile, including air defense missiles and Tomahawk cruise missiles, has been depleted due to conflicts with Iran and its proxies in the Middle East.

Insiders warned that the strikes launched on Saturday set off a race against time to destroy Iran’s missile force before the United States runs out of interceptors to fend off retaliatory strikes.

The exact size of the US stockpile of missiles and interceptors is secret, but warnings about their numbers came after the US launched a massive barrage of attacks on targets in Tehran and other Iranian cities.

A senior official reportedly said that Trump’s decision to launch the initial strike was because he hoped to weaken Iran’s ability to use its missiles and drones to strike back.

In an interview with the Daily Mail on Sunday, Trump said he believed the conflict could last up to a month, and on Saturday on Truth Social he said the conflict would ‘continue uninterrupted throughout the week or as long as is necessary to achieve our goal of PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND BY CONDITION IN THE WORLD.’

The killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threw the conflict into chaos; Sources told The Associated Press on Sunday that Iran’s leadership is “open” to negotiations.

With next steps unclear, U.S. forces have said efforts to thwart Iranian attacks have been largely successful, though some attacks have penetrated the defenses of neighboring countries.

Kelly Grieco, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center think tank who once taught at the Air Command and Staff College, told the Wall Street Journal that the size of the U.S. stockpile could become a factor with the possibility of more attacks and interventions.

‘One of the challenges is that you can consume them very quickly,’ Greico said. ‘We’re using them faster than we can replace them.’

One of the most vital weapons in the US arsenal is the Thaad anti-missile system, which is deployed around the world to monitor and track possible incoming fire.

Military sources said it was vital to keep Thaad’s weapons stockpiles high, with systems established outside the Middle East, such as in North Korea and Guam, to deter North Korea and China.

Replacing the military’s Patriot and Standard Missile (SM) weapon stockpiles has become a priority amid rising tensions in the Middle East; only SM-3 missiles were capable of intercepting ballistic missiles above the Earth’s atmosphere.

The Journal reported that generals are concerned about U.S. stockpiles beyond air defense interceptors as the U.S. rapidly uses up its supply of Tomahawk cruise missiles and aircraft-launched weapons.

Becca Wasser, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told the press that the Trump administration used a high rate of weapons last year, including the use of long-range precision weapons, against Yemen-based Houthi militants.

One of the most vital weapons in the US arsenal is the Thaad anti-missile system, which is deployed around the world to monitor and track incoming missiles.

Iran retaliated against US and Israeli attacks with a barrage of missiles on neighboring countries; some of these breached air defense systems (seen in Dubai)

“The Trump administration fired TLAMs (Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles) at an extraordinary rate in operations around the world on Christmas Day against Iran and the Houthis in the Middle East, as well as in Nigeria,” Wasser said.

The military expert said the United States will look at potential future wars when choosing how to use munitions in Iran and noted the possibility of a war with China. TLAMs are powerful missiles that can destroy infrastructure.

‘When we play the war game, TLAMs are some of the first munitions sent in the first week of the US-China conflict,’ he said.

This comes after US Central Command announced that three US soldiers were killed in attacks on Iran on Sunday.

In an exclusive phone interview with the Daily Mail, Trump broke his silence on the deaths and remembered the victims as “wonderful people.”

‘And you know, unfortunately we expect that to happen. “It could happen all the time, it could happen again,” Trump added.

Trump acknowledged that the three deaths were the first casualties of his second term, as the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro in January and the bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities in June occurred without a single American death.

‘We did pretty well,’ he said, ‘But they are extraordinary people with extraordinary records.’

Trump also outlined the potential timeline for war with Iran, suggesting that hostilities could continue for the next four weeks.

‘This has always been a four-week process. We thought it would take about four weeks. “This has always been about a four-week process, no matter how strong a country is, it’s going to take four weeks or less,” the president said.