Published On 4/26/2026
With the faltering diplomatic track and repeated American threats to return to war against Iran, there is renewed talk about American stockpiles that observers and trackers believe have been depleted by this war, amid fears that the American deterrence power, especially against China, has become threatened.
A report by Ahmed Jarrar shed light on the American stockpile and weapons that the United States used during the 39 days of the war against Iran, and the challenges that the United States faces in light of this in confronting China.
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At a rate of approximately 15 targets per hour, the United States bombed approximately 14,000 targets inside Iran throughout the days of the war. The American strikes were not limited to nuclear facilities and targeting Iranian military capabilities, especially its missile program and naval force, but rather extended to industrial facilities and vital infrastructure, which Washington says were used to support the operations of the Iranian army and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
Washington is not satisfied with the targets it bombed during the 39 days of the war, as it threatens that energy facilities and power plants will be on the target list in the future if the war resumes and an agreement is not reached according to American standards.
To deal with this number of targets, Washington employed large quantities of long-range and accurate munitions and missiles, their cost approaching about 17 billion dollars, and included:
– More than a thousand Tomahawk missiles.
About 1,100 long-range stealth missiles.
Large numbers of air defense missiles.
– More than 1,500 Patriot missiles.
-More than 200 THAAD missiles.
About 50% of precision attack munitions.
Questions about deterrence power
The report indicates that the significance of these numbers does not lie in the size alone, but rather in the compensation equation, as some of these systems are limited in production and slow to replace, and it may take years to return them to pre-war levels.
This is not only about ammunition that was used extensively, but also about capabilities, part of which was originally built to deter opponents of another type, such as China, which the United States seeks to restrict its influence in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and curb its ambitions to forcefully impose a new reality towards Taiwan.
Knowing that Washington had previously transferred the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, along with other military equipment and capabilities, which were part of the deterrence equation in Asia towards the Middle East region to contribute to encircling the Iranian geography.
There are questions raised – according to the report – about how Washington can reconcile the requirements of the war it is waging against Iran with its broader deterrence priorities, especially with the change that has occurred in its strategy and tools against Iran.
In the same context, the Wall Street Journal previously quoted US officials as saying that the war on Iran had cost the US military huge amounts of ammunition, which sparked discussions within President Donald Trump’s administration regarding Washington’s ability to implement contingency plans to defend Taiwan, if a Chinese invasion of the island occurred in the near future.
These officials said that compensation for this stockpile of weapons may last about 6 years, which prompted officials in the Trump administration to discuss amending current operational plans regarding Taiwan, in anticipation of any possible presidential order to defend it.
It is noteworthy that the United States moved from depleting Iran’s military capabilities to depleting resources in conjunction with the mobilization of three aircraft carriers in the region for the first time since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, in an approach through which it most likely seeks – the report adds – to exhaust Tehran by blockading its ports, pursuing what is known as its shadow fleet of oil tankers, and depriving it of daily revenues worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
With hopes of holding another round of negotiations between Washington and Tehran dashed, the US Central Command (Centcom) announced that its forces continue to impose sanctions and implement the blockade on ships heading to or leaving Iran, noting that it has diverted 37 ships since the start of the blockade on Iranian ports.
