The American seal and the signage of the Situation Room on a wall inside the White House in Washington. (Credit: AFP)
As U.S. President Donald Trump weighs his options in what appears to be America's inevitable involvement in the Israel-Iran war, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Israel's ability to intercept Iranian missiles is possibly on the line as its stock of defensive missiles depletes.
A U.S. official and analysts familiar with the numbers told WSJ that Iran has more missiles than Israel and the U.S., combined, have interceptors, raising concerns among both administrations that as the war drags on, Iran will gain an advantage.
Trump is reportedly considering a range of options, U.S. media reports, including sending 30,000-pound bombs and the bombers necessary to drop them, to strike Iran's uranium enrichment facilities, notably its Fordow fuel enrichment plant, which is deep underground.
Another option that Trump himself made mention of aboard the Air Force One as he left the G7 summit in Canada, was sending his special envoy and chief negotiator, Steve Witkoff, and his vice president, JD Vance, to Iran for direct in-person negotiations with Iranian officials. Trump added, however, that he was "not too much in the mood to negotiate."
Upon arriving back in Washington, Trump held an hour-and-20-minute meeting with his top security officials in the White House Situation Room. When the meeting was adjourned, Trump called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who believes, along with his top military officials, that Trump will bring the U.S. into the war, Axios reported Tuesday evening.
Ahead of the meeting, Trump claimed in a Truth Social post that the U.S. knew "exactly" where Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was "hiding," but that he was "safe there," because the U.S. was "not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now."
The results of the Situation Room meeting and the contents of the phone call between the two leaders are not yet known, and up until now, the White House has maintained that it will not being joining the war on behalf of Israel. Speculation to the contrary is fueled by recent moves by the U.S. to send military reinforcements to the region.
A third U.S. Navy destroyer entered the eastern Mediterranean Sea to help defend Israel, WSJ notes, and a second U.S. carrier strike group was en route to the Arabian Sea as of Wednesday.
According to the U.S. official who spoke to WSJ, the U.S. has been aware of Israel's capacity problems in keeping its three missile defense systems stocked for months now, and as its ups its deliveries to Israel, there is now an added concern that its own stocks will be depleted.
“Neither the U.S. nor the Israelis can continue to sit and intercept missiles all day,” Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies told the Journal.