From the Liveblog of
Sunday, March 15, 2026
IDF indicates that it’s not running ‘critically low’ on missile interceptors, denying recent reports
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
Israel is not running “critically low” on air defense interceptors amid the war with Iran, the military indicates, denying the latest in a series of international reporting that the IDF’s stockpile of interceptor missiles is emptying out.
The Israel Defense Forces has said it is “prepared and ready to handle any scenario,” but officially declines to comment on specific munitions matters.
Military officials have told The Times of Israel that the operation in Iran was planned months in advance, and the planning took into account Tehran’s stock of ballistic missiles and drones that it could fire at Israel.
The officials also say that the IDF has prepared for a long war with Iran, which could last several more weeks, during which ballistic missile fire on Israel will likely continue.
Taking Iran’s missile stockpile into account means the IDF prepared ahead of time with enough interceptors to handle the threat.
Additionally, the officials say the IDF is actually running through fewer interceptors than it anticipated at this point in the operation.
Iran has launched around 300 ballistic missiles at Israel in over two weeks thus far, down from the 500 it fired at Israel during the 12-day war in June 2025.
During the June 2025 war, as well, the IDF denied repeated claims that Israel’s interceptor stockpile was low.
The interception rate of Iran’s ballistic missiles is high, according to the IDF, and at similar rates to the June 2025 war.
There have been multiple impacts in residential areas of Israel, including three ballistic missiles carrying Iran’s conventional warheads of several hundred kilograms and around a dozen with cluster bomb warheads. Twelve people have been killed.
The military has routinely emphasized that, as good as Israel’s multilayered air defenses are, they are not hermetic.
Last night, Semafor reported, citing US officials familiar with the matter, that Israel informed the US this week that it is running “critically low” on ballistic missile interceptors.
The report claimed the US has been aware for months that Israel has a low capacity, adding that the US is not running low on interceptors of its own.
Iran has only been firing several missiles a day at Israel, and a supposed “critical shortage” would mean Israel would have even fewer interceptors.
Additionally, the report claimed that Iran’s launch of cluster munitions “may exacerbate the depletion of the stock,” despite Israel’s use of shorter-range air defense systems like the Iron Dome and David’s Sling to shoot down the individual submuntions, rather than an anti-ballistic missile system.
Israel also uses the shorter-range systems to intercept attacks from Hezbollah in Lebanon, though the report did not say that Israel is running into a shortage of those interceptors as well as the anti-ballistic ones.
The Times of Israel Community.