Unconfirmed US report claims Israel running out of ballistic missile interceptors; some details do not appear to reflect IDF’s interception operations

Israel informed the US this week that it is running critically low on ballistic missile interceptors as the conflict with Iran continues, Semafor reports, citing US officials familiar with the matter.

There is no confirmation of the report, and some of its details did not appear to reflect known aspects of Israel’s interception processes and operations.

The report claims 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.

“It’s something we expected and anticipated,” a US official is quoted as saying. “We have all that we need to protect our bases and our personnel in the region and our interests.”

The official also says Israel is “coming up with solutions to address” the purported shortage, though Iran has only been firing several missiles a day, and a critical shortage would mean Israel would have fewer than ten interceptors left.

The report states that “it’s also unclear whether the US might seek to sell or share any of its own interceptors with Israel, which would pose its own strain on domestic supplies.” Israel, however, doesn’t currently use any American air defense systems.

Additionally, the report claims that Iran’s launch of cluster munitions “may exacerbate the depletion of the stock,” despite Israel’s use of Iron Dome — which is designed to counter rockets and other projectiles of shorter range — to shoot down the individual clusters rather than an anti-ballistic missile system.